Three discs in a year and it’s safe to say that Diego Fasolis is serious about Steffani (1654–1728). The conductor and his energetic period orchestra accompanied Cecilia Bartoli on her Mission album to revive the Italian priest’s reputation, following that success with his sombre, subdued Stabat Mater. Now I Barrochisti step out from under Bartoli’s cassock (see questionable Mission cover art) into their own with an all-instrumental selection from the operas.

An Italian who perfected his art in Rome but took up ecclesiastical posts in Munich, Hanover and Düsseldorf, Agostino Steffani somehow

became king of the French overture, of which there are several searingly focused examples. He couldn’t have asked for more sympathetic champions in this generous collection of 43 little gems. Fanfare outbursts of natural horns and thundering timpani in Niobe, Regina di

Tebe (a neglected opera dusted off at Covent Garden in 2010) add a wild edge to an elegant sound without trampling over the refined, lilting articulation.

There’s a delicious lick of the exotic in the light yet detailed percussion of La liberta contenda and Orlando generoso. I Barrochisti relish a playful rigadoun or an uprushing tempest, always making the most of Steffani’s dramatic flourishes. The album’s contrast lies in those little touches rather than in the overarching mood (with the haunting exception of Les ombres grave of Trionfi del Fato: soft bassoon and low recorders in solemn, golden stillness). Of course these suspended overtures seldom lead anywhere – except to a surprise visit from a choir in the closing bars of the final Amor vien dal destino – and in a long program one can become a little inured to their charms.