The Habsburg Empire defeated the Ottoman Empire following the Siege of Vienna in 1683, ending the centuries of Muslim incursions into Europe and finally reclaiming Hungary and regions of the Balkans. The ensuing century saw improving relations between the two societies and a growing trade in ‘oriental’ items such as jewellery, carpets, spices, coffee – and musical ideas. The most famous expression of the Western vogue for all things Turkish is Mozart’s Die Entführung but as late as the second decade of the 19th century Rossini was able to capitalise on the meme in Il turco in Italia.

Harmonie – wind bands – were also an important part of Enlightenment entertainment and here Alfredo Bernardini and Zefiro offer a selection of works relying to varying extents on wind instruments and Turkish percussion. Some of it is gleefully noisy (Mozart’s Entführung march; Donizetti’s deliciously loopy sinfonia), making full use of drums, tambours, triangles and the jingling Johnny. Matters are calmer in music by the young Schubert and Mendelssohn, not to mention the older (and elder) Haydn. Giuseppe Donizetti – Gaetano’s elder brother – actually worked as Instructor General to the Ottomans and composed the march included here, which became the empire’s national anthem.

The largest work here is Spohr’s counterintuitively clattery Notturno from 1815, which closes the disc: wind and janissary bands combine and a clarinet takes the lead – not to mention a posthorn solo in the Polacca. The occasional ripe tuning and audible keywork really only add to the fun provided by this comprehensively annotated and well-filled disc.