Small-scale but elegantly fashioned, melodious and pleasurable music: it's no wonder that the London public in the 1760s and 1770s took JC to their hearts. Here we have the overtures to six works of his that were performed at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket – from his first opera there, Orione in 1763, to his last, La clemenza diScipione in 1778, and the 1770 oratorio, Gioas, plus a symphony which is a pasticcio of the Clemenza overture with additional trumpets and drums and a revised version of the Andante from the overture to his only completed French opera, the 1779 Amadis de Gaule. The most striking feature about all these works, apart from their vigorous openings, is the freedom in the use of wind instruments: Zanaida has soli clarinets, and the trio of Orione's minuet is for wind band only, as are passages in Adriano, the E flat March in Clemenza and the brilliant final Presto of Carattaco.
The Hanover Band's playing is vital and fresh, rhythmically crisp and tonally clean-cut; the recording is first rate.