5S Program

The title is irresistible, and the compilation is clever. This disc includes duets and arias from the five operas - Alessandro, Admeto, RiccardoPrimo, Siroe and Tolomeo - that Handel wrote for the last three seasons of his opera company, the Royal Academy of Music, from 1726 until 1729. It was a time when those real-life rival queens (they were known by that label), the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni, trod the boards in the King's Theatre, Haymarket. It is by no means all jealous fury either. As one would expect of a composer of such subtle insight into character, there are other carefully nuanced emotions in this music.

Two years in the making, Conspiracy Theories is undoubtedly guitarist Phil Miller's most ambitious record to date. After establishing himself as a member of such legendary Canterbury groups as Hatfield and the North, National Health, Matching Mole, and Delivery, Miller has devoted the majority of his energy over the past quarter-century to his more overtly jazz-centric In Cahoots group.Featuring seven new and characteristically dynamic compositions from Miller (and one each from Baker and Lemer), his writing has never been more complex yet approachable, and the indefinable British nature of his writing - dating back to Matching Mole - remains a defining quality. While fans of the Canterbury scene will undoubtedly rejoice, the disc's finely-honed compositions, fine arrangements and compelling solos make it equally deserving of attention from the broader jazz-listening public.