DRESDEN BAROQUE ORCHESTRA Gloria Dresdensis (CPO)

During the first two-thirds of the 18th century, no German musical establishment surpassed that of Dresden, seat of the Electors of Saxony, who (among their numerous titles) were also the kings of Poland and Lithuania. Leading composers elsewhere spoke longingly of Dresden’s high performance standards, enviable working conditions, and generous salaries. Even Johann Sebastian Bach, laboring 60 miles away in Leipzig, strove mightily to obtain an honorary appointment from the Dresden court, which he managed to do only after three years of persistent petitioning. Dresden’s reticence was, in a way, understandable: Bach was getting to be old-fashioned, while Dresden composers were on the cutting edge of a new rococo style. The Dresden Baroque Orchestra, a crackerjack period-instrument group, has put together a winning selection of seven orchestral pieces by as many composers, drawn from the court’s collection of 1,800 music manuscripts of that time. The playlist includes a vibrant opera overture by court music director Johann Adolf Hasse, a brooding sonata by court concertmaster Johann Georg Pisendel, an ebullient orchestral suite by Johann Friedrich Fasch (a close friend of Pisendel’s), and sinfonias by the trendy Italians Antonio Caldara (with rousing brass fanfares), Giuseppe Brescianello, and Giovanni Battista Sammartini. It’s a compelling program in toto, but the concluding number eclipses all: George Frideric Handel’s spectacular “Overture to an Occasional Oratorio,” its orchestration here expanded by Pisendel. — James M. Keller