A neat idea this from David Bates and his ensemble La Nuova Musica. Two of Charpentier’s short Latin biblical oratorios are placed alongside the most celebrated example of the genre by his Italian teacher, Carissimi, all linked by the idea of sacrifice, and with instrumental numbers by Italophile Sébastian de Brossard in between. Charpentier’s intense approach to musical drama courses through the well-known Le reniement de Saint Pierre and the soloists are outgoing in their dialogues. And, for all the textural clarity and vigour of the choruses, there could have been more depth of sound.

Sacrificium Abrahae is a slightly larger work, with violins added, but its most moving moments here are intimate, such as the joy of Abraham and Sarah over her pregnancy, the mood of foreboding in the trio of narrators and the heartbreaking dialogue, full of love, between Abraham and an Isaac unsuspecting of his intended fate. The horror-struck tone of the chorus that follows is also well caught, though the dramatic pause before the Angel’s intervention does not quite come off – an uncharacteristic misfire, as generally David Bates’s control of momentum and flow between sections is a sure one.

This is especially true of Carissimi’s Historia di Jephte, a more lively piece in which the level of dramatic involvement is high. The performance, too, is more effective overall, and the disc’s star turn also resides here in Sophie Junker, whose initial joy and final lament for her plight as Jephtha’s daughter is strikingly powerful. This is a disc of much promise from a new generation of British Baroque performing talent.