The music of Zelenka is worth the occasional visit. It is easy when reading about his life – which ended in disappointment when he lost out to Hasse for the top musical job at the Dresden court – to get the impression of an isolated and morose figure. But there is no hint of that in his music, which has all the high spirits and quirkiness of a Telemann, coupled with something of the dogged application of a Bach. His only real failing is a penchant for expansive melodies which can tip over from the long-limbed into the long-winded.

Collegium 1704 give us the surviving orchestral works Zelenka composed while in Prague in 1723 trying to make himself conspicuous at the coronation of Emperor Charles VI as Viceroy of Bohemia. They certainly look like a showcase, offering a variety of titles and styles: an overture-suite; a Vivaldian concerto for several instruments; a collection of movements described as a ‘Simphonie’ (though we are only given two of them here; and a movement enigmatically entitled Hipocondrie. As a bonus there is one of the six quartet sonatas which have proved to be Zelenka’s most popular works on disc.

All this music is currently available elsewhere and Collegium 1704’s performances seem unlikely to displace the more expert accounts by the likes of Camerata Bern (DG, 1/89R) and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (DHM, 10/95), for there is a nagging acidity of tuning and untidiness of ensemble-playing which a resonant recording can smooth over but not hide. Their enthusiasm and freshness of spirit cannot be faulted, however, and the Sonata is well done. Not really a first choice, then, but not without its moments either.