Ina Siedlaczek and the Lautten Compagney present George Frideric Handel’s Nine German Arias alongside arias from his Brockes Passion. Siedlaczek’s pure and flexible voice is ideally suited to these works; her direct and natural style of singing balances the opulence of the baroque texts. The instrumental sonorities on this recording are characterised by an extraordinarily colourful sound palette both in the melody and the continuo parts: the obbligato instrumental part is taken in turn (even within the same aria) by a flute, oboe and violin and also playing together. In the aria ‘Brich mein Herz, zerfließ in Tränen’ (track 3), the violin part is played by a viola da gamba, giving this piece an especially personal character. The continuo is shared by organ, harpsichord, harp, lute, theorbo, bassoon and cello, providing a richly sonorous base for the texts and melodies of the solo parts. The varied colours of the instruments provide a fitting context for Ina Siedlaczek’s nuanced interpretations, paving the way to the texts whose language is far removed from today’s idiom. Nonetheless, nearly three hundred years later, the spiritual reflections of the poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes, set to music by George Frideric Handel, continue to fascinate us with their timeless musical message. Ina Siedlaczek and the Lautten Compagney perform with great dedication and attention to detail.