André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, the leading Paris stage composer during the last quarter of the 18th century, is represented here by an attractive selection of ballet music and airs from works of different sorts – a ballet-héroïque, an opéra bouffon, an opéra-ballet and simply an opera. Most of the ballet music comes from Céphale et Procris, in the first of those categories; the longest item is a Pantomime, a piece specifically designed to carry the dramatic action, which is to my mind slightly pointless on a recording as the numerous gestures in the music (rushing scales, unison tremolandi, sudden silences and so on) don’t make much sense without knowing what they represent.

Much more appealing are the illustrative or mood pieces, like the charming little nymphs’ ballet, the vivid little Tambourin (very much a continuation of the Rameau tradition), the ‘Danse infernale’ and the graceful and touching little ‘Air lent’. Grétry handled the orchestra deftly and delicately. The pieces from the other works include a witty little contredanse from Anacréon with delightful horn parts, and a pas de deux exquisitely written for clarinet (exquisitely played here, too, by Eric Hoeprich), with a two-clarinet cadenza at the end, and a ‘Danse égyptienne’ from La caravane de Caire with some pseudo-Oriental touches.

The airs are mostly in a gently pathetic vein, which Grétry handles with due sentiment, and Sophie Karthäuser hits it off neatly with her smallish but bright and clear soprano. She does well, too, in the urgent little piece from Anacréon, but the big Italian aria from Lacaravane de Caire – sung by an Italian girl in the opera – makes rather heavier demands on her upper register; her coloratura is done with precision, but ideally more weight is needed. Never mind: this is an attractive disc, with music of refinement and taste, played and sung with style and delicacy under Guy van Waas, and offering an inviting sample of Grétry’s music.