The short-lived Nicolai is better known for his operatic effort The Merry Wives of Windsor so it is good that MD&G are celebrating the less obvious. Of course neglect is sometimes justified. This turns out not to be the case here. Joyous Beethovenian bravura from same bloodgroup as the Beethoven's Choral Fantasy (much under-rated) and the Third and Fourth piano concertos. There is also restraint and tenderness aplenty amidst all the coruscating notes. The dashing piano part is pressed forward and breasted by MD&G regular Claudius Tanski - a most convincing performance. The work is restless with excitement and rich in detail.

Otto Nicolai is known to most listeners, at least outside Germany, for his opera Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), and among most of those specifically for the opera's sparkling overture. Nicolai, who died at age 39, wrote four other operas and various pieces of orchestral music as well; the latter has been collected in two volumes by the German audiophile label MDG, performed by the little-known and exquisitely confusingly named Southern Westphalian Philharmonic – Orchestra of the Land of North Rhine–Westphalia (entirely capable, for all that). The program doesn't make perfect sense.