The enterprising Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra known as Tempesta di Mare, founded in 2002, was the brainchild of the American lutenist Richard Stone and his wife, the flautist Gwyn Roberts, and the repertoire they have recorded on Chandos heretofore reflects their strengths: Fasch, Mancini and Weiss as well as Bach, Handel and Scarlatti.

Their new release, a disc of French theatre music by Lully, Rebel and Marais, marks the first of a projected series. The choice of music on this CD already enjoys reasonable currency, especially Jordi Savall’s version of Lully’s ‘Cérémonie des Turcs’ from Le bourgeois gentilhomme (1670) for the film Tous le matins du monde (1994). Rebel’s ‘Le chaos’ that opens Les éléments (1737 38) once heard is never forgotten and much the same can be said of the dramatic ‘Tempête’ in Marais’s opera Alcyone (1706). Subsequent releases will undoubtedly include less well-known gems.

Tempesta di Mare opt for a softer-edged soundscape than many other specialist Baroque ensembles. In particular, a distinct sense of distance characterises their Lully tracks. The directors have taken full advantage of Lully’s sparsely preserved instrumentation and used solo guitars, recorders and bassoon in the ‘Canaries’ and solo bassoon in the ‘Tambourins’ to good effect, though one might question some of the percussion effects. They have also respected Lully’s well-known aversion to inégalité, though some may feel the music sounds slightly foursquare as a result. The group seem genuinely at home in the 18th-century music, and the recorded sound in the Rebel and Marais is more immediate. The tempos are well chosen – dignified in the overtures and marches, lilting and swaggering in the airs and dances – and the command of dynamics and ornamentation are superb throughout.