Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga (1806 26) was 13 when he composed the opera Los esclavos felices. Only the overture survives, alas, and from the Arcadian atmosphere of the introductory pastorale to the Rossini-esque wit of the Allegro assai, it’s a delight. Here we’re given the 1821 revision, made after the Bilbao-born wunderkind had moved to Paris to study with François-Joseph Fétis. Juanjo Mena and the BBC Philharmonic sound sleepy compared with Mackerras (Hyperion, 11/95) or Cassuto (Naxos, 12/03), but immediately thereafter, in the expectant orchestral preface to the cantata Herminie, their playing is alert and characterful, as it is throughout the remainder of the programme.

Herminie provides ample evidence of Arriaga’s keen dramatic instincts and ability to paint a scene. Note the sense of an icy chill in the air when, in the second recitative, the heroine finds her beloved seemingly slain on the battlefield, and the expressive, awed harmonies when she discovers he’s alive in the final section. In the Air de Medée – a stand-alone setting of an aria from the same libretto used by Cherubini – Arriaga effectively juxtaposes complex, florid passages with simpler, more emotionally direct ones. Berit Norbakken Solset sings both works vividly, and her fresh tone and satiny legato are delectable.

The BBC Philharmonic winds relish the felicitous solos in both the D major Overture and the Symphony, and although Mackerras and Cassuto offer excellent accounts of the latter, Mena’s has charms of its own. He finds a play of light and shade in first movement’s Allegro vivace, with its alternation of major and minor that’s evocative of yet so distinct from Schubert’s. And the slow movement is really very beautifully done, particularly the sotto voce opening.