No, these are not all operetta overtures, a point recognized in the typography for the word ‘Operetta’ on the jewel-case, with the letters ‘ett’ set in italics to give you the option, opera or operetta. What is consistent is the warmth and colour of all these works. As so often when they have alighted on a new and winning formula, Marriner and the Academy are inspired to produce the most brilliant playing, flawless in ensemble, opulent in tone and ripely recorded. It is a joy to have such war-horses as Suppe’s Poet and Peasant presented like this, and when Heuberger’s operetta, The Opera Ball, has spawned such a favourite number as the song, ‘Im chambre separee’, it is good to find that hit-tune as a waltz in the middle of the Overture, leading on to a riotous final galop.
Setting the pattern best of all is Reznicek’s Donna Diana Overture, a piece guaranteed to raise one’s spirits, with Marriner and the Academy vying in exuberance with the classic mono version of Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic. It is also good to have such a rarity as Marschner’s Overture to the high romantic drama, Hans Heiling, not so different in tone from the overtures to such comic operas as Zar und Zimmermann. In short, a delightful cocktail of a disc.'