This recording features three challenging works for soprano and chamber ensemble that place extraordinary demands of virtuosity and expressiveness on soloist and orchestra alike. Written in 1707 when the composer was living in Italy, Laudate pueri Dominum is a startling example of Handel’s ability to absorb and make use of foreign traditions to fuel his unique vision and compositional voice. The psalm setting is a veritable catalogue of Italian musical forms, all masterfully employed by Handel. The Gloria for coloratura voice, two violins, and basso continuo is also from Handel’s early period. Discovered in 2001, this exquisite liturgical work is at times expansive and elegant, but its vigorous sections for the soprano soloist are what often amaze hearers. The composer’s thrilling virtuoso motet Silete venti (“Silence, ye winds”) comes from later in Handel’s career when he was living in London and writing operas for the lyric stage. Opening with what appears to be a typical French ouverture, the soprano makes her entrance in the work by bidding the winds—elemental and instrumental—to be silent so her Christian soul can peacefully enjoy its repose. Soprano Mary Wilson’s performances of Silete venti with American Bach Soloists have astonished audiences with the breathtaking ease and precision of her singing. Mary Wilson (soprano) is one of today's most exciting singing artists. Cultivating a wide-ranging career in chamber music, oratorio and operatic repertoire, her “bright soprano seems to know no terrors, wrapping itself seductively around every phrase” (Dallas Morning News). Hailed by the Arizona Daily Star as “simply amazing, with a voice that induces goose bumps and a stage presence that is mesmerizing,” Wilson made her ABS debut in 2003 in Handel’s Messiah at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. She has since appeared with the ensemble on several occasions, offering dazzling performances of the music of Bach, Pergolesi, Charpentier, Vivaldi, and, most of all, Handel. “She is a fresh-voiced singer and a direct communicator,” offered the San Jose Mercury News, “she loops and embellishes, executing Handel’s tricky flights with seemingly little effort.” Ms. Wilson is also an accomplished performer on the nation’s operatic and concert stages performing works by a wide variety of composers from Mozart and Verdi to Philip Glass and Jonathan Dove.