Handel’s Solomon is written on the grandest possible scale, much of it for double orchestra as well as double chorus. But it is a patchy piece, inflated from only two incidents in Solomon’s life: his famous judgement and the visit of the Queen of Sheba.

It cries out for an assertive approach and this it received in spades on Wednesday under Peter Seymour’s direction.

The Yorkshire Baroque Soloists are a gilt-edged orchestra nowadays, virtually guaranteed to come up trumps.

From the trumpets and horns in the great D major choruses, the rushing violins in the Levite’s Act Two aria, Edwina Smith’s liquid flute in the First Harlot’s Beneath the Vine, and Anthony Robson’s sublime oboe (with flutes) at the Queen of Sheba’s nostalgic departure, we had a succession of succulent scenes far surpassing the anonymous libretto.

The choir, too, was on its toes, nowhere more vividly than in the four central choruses of Act Three, which were nicely differentiated, in turn dreamlike, martial, melancholy and storm-tossed. Throughout, the basses delivered a particularly pleasing underlay.

Robin Blaze’s Solomon was a chummy despot, his glowing countertenor beaming benevolently on his kingdom.

There was just the electricity we needed between him and the Queen of Sheba, a confident portrait from Bethany Seymour, whose soprano goes from strength to strength.

Helen Neeves was agile as Solomon’s queen, but needed more chest tone in the lower reaches.

William Knight’s reliable but dispassionate Zadok and Tom Appleton’s firm Levite completed the promising young cast.