Bach's Magnificat in D major, completed in 1723, is composed on a grand scale (it requires a surprisingly large orchestra including three trumpets and is set, as is the Mass in B minor, in Latin), yet here it is not given the most profound or weighty reading. Tempi are frequently fast, textures are clean and bright: there is none of Leonard Bernstein's steady pacing and sense of gradually accumulating grandeur. But the orchestra, under Emmanuelle Haïm, play with pinpoint accuracy and great ensemble virtuosity.

Immediately in the opening chorus, the collective timbre is clear and persuasive, with firmly-bowed strings, colourful woodwind and vibrant trumpets. The violins are warmly-hued throughout and timpanist Sylvain Fabre makes a powerful sound. Haïm accompanies the voice flawlessly. The choir perform the work's central fugal episode stirringly and sing with consistently powerful tone throughout, though sometimes the delivery of melismatic writing can be fractionally tentative.

But it is the soloists who turn the thrill factor up to eleven. Natalie Dessay reminds one why she is among the most admired singers of her generation, using her admirable breath control to phrase grandly and expansively. Karine Deshayes provides welcome vocal contrast, expertly shading her warm, characterful mezzo. Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky is an exciting young talent with a clear, highly focused tone, and he works wonders here. Toby Spence equally possesses a thrilling voice, and though here his tenor can (as, I remember thinking, it can elsewhere) dangerously lose volume down below, he manfully handles the coloratura in his one solo aria. Bass Laurent Naouri provides characterful support.

It is hard to imagine a finer cast, and the line-up impresses further in Handel's Dixit Dominus, another Latin work, completed in 1707. Listen to Dessay's rendition of the aria Tecum principium: her lingering pianos, her ethereal and liquid-smooth decorations, her intimate conversations with both violins and continuo. In the chorus Juravit Dominus, the choir effectively contrast the alternating sections, performing the animated polyphonic passage with spirited, jerky attack. Though the disc runs to under an hour, it is thrilling to hear two masterpieces of the Baroque era performed with such exuberance.

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