Leclair's Op. 13 consists of three Ouvertures and three Trio Sonatas and appears here complete for the first time on disc. The collection was published in 1753 when the Mercure de France recorded that its contents were ''equal, indeed superior, to all the greatest things that the composer has done up to now''. The overtures are of the French variety beginning with a characteristically dotted rhythmic section followed by a fugally based one. To these Leclair added in each case a slow middle movement and a lively finale. The three sonatas are in four movements adhering to the slow-fast-slow-fast pattern. Two of them are Leclair's own arrangements of solo violin sonatas from his two earliest printed collections while the third, in D major was originally published as a trio in a publication of 1728. The ouvertures, on the other hand began as theatre pieces; indeed, one of them, as Leclair himself remarked in his avertissement functioned as the overture to his single masterly opera, Scylla et Glaucus (1746), while its remaining two movements and the music of the two other overtures perhaps served as theatre music for the Duke of Gramont who engaged Leclair as his orchestra leader in the late 1740s.
The music attains a consistently high level of interest with pride of place perhaps being taken by the beautifully constructed and entertaining Trio Sonata in D major (No. 1). The performances are fluently idiomatic though not without a hint of perfunctoriness here and there. I did feel from time to time that the violin playing was too insecure and lacking both warmth and refinement. The second Largo of the B minor Sonata begins tentatively and there are rough patches in the preceding Allegro. But these are exceptions to the general standard of performance which is stylish and effectively animated. The dialogue between the two violins and cello is evenly balanced and Christophe Rousset who directs from the harpsichord, provides a clear, positive lead in all but the instances which I have already mentioned.
In short, I'd have liked more finesse from this playing, and greater warmth in the higher reaches of the violin tessitura, but the performances capture the spirit of the music and, as I say, this is thoroughly au courant with matters of style. Good recorded sound and a satisfying programme.'