Countertenor Andreas Scholl's second solo CD for Decca is an all-Vivaldi disc entitled Nisi Dominus after the first piece, a Latin setting of Psalm 127, one of David's more optimistic scribblings. "Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them", it says of children. It inspires a robust and imaginative composition from Vivaldi. In verse four, "Um Dederit", the slow-skipping strings of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra are quietened with lead mutes which had to be specially made. The effect is eerie, like mist over the Rialto. Scholl's voice emerges like a smoothly gliding gondola, his blemishless, straight tone catching sparkling dissonances as the musical current flows. There is no lazy singing here. In the "Amen", for variety's sake, Scholl takes the trouble to shape each repeating melismatic run differently. The CD includes three further vocal works, the solo cantatas Clarae Stellae, Vestro Principi and Salve Regina for double orchestra. Two quick-slow-quick concerti for orchestra are interspersed. Conductor Paul Dyer is responsible for a prompt and springy beat and a clean ensemble. --Rick Jones