Had enough of
Mozart and Weber's operas overtures but not quite ready for
Mendelssohn and
Schumann's concert overtures? Want an overture with bite, brio, and brilliance, but not too much panache, power, or passion?
Try Kuhlau's opera overtures. As a German living in Denmark, Kuhlau wrote a great many operas and everyone of them had an overture. Most of them are at best lightweight, with decent tunes, loud orchestrations, bouncy rhythms, and a tendency to repeat themselves under stress. While nowhere near in the same league as
Mozart or Weber's overtures, a good performance of a Kuhlau overture is a reasonable alternative to another run-through of a
Mozart overture.
Michael Schønwandt's performances with the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra are all good performances.
Schønwandt sounds excited about conducting the music and the D.N.R.S.O. sounds excited about playing it. Although there may be nothing particularly profound about any of Kuhlau's overtures, at least in this recording they are all entertaining. Chandos' 1998 recording is crisp and clear.