It is unfortunate that Antonio Salieri (1750 - 1825) is known now almost exclusively for being the nemesis of Mozart in the Peter Schaffer play and subsequent film 'Amadeus'. Salieri was certainly much more than the thwarted, second-rate composer. Perhaps he was not in Mozart's league so far as composition power goes (although the best of Salieri certainly stands up as worthy in comparison with many of the major composers of his time), but he was a respected composer in his own time, and perhaps more than for his composition, he was respected as a teacher and court musician. Salieri counts among his pupils Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt and even Mozart's second son.
His operas tended to follow a particularly popular formula, with dramatic flairs and stories easily accessible to the people. He drew inspiration from historical works, from mythological and fictional works, as well as works of popular circulation. Salieri even used some libretti from Lorenzo de Ponte, perhaps better known now as a librettist for Mozart.
This disc includes overtures of twelve operas (Salieri wrote nearly 50 operas, several of which were not premiered until the 1990s). They include pieces from his dramatic operas as well as his comic operas. The power in these is certainly evident. Perhaps the best of the lot is 'Cesare in Farmacusa (Tempesta di Mare)' and 'Axur, Re d'Ormus', an opera also involving de Ponte, and reworked from an earlier attempt to do a French opera into an Italian one.
It is a mistake (reinforced by 'Amadeus') to classify Salieri as an Italian composer - he lived most of his life in Vienna, and was criticised by the Empress at one point for being too much of a German composer. Salieri's works such as 'Don Chisciotte alle nozze di Gamace', the overture of which is included here, certainly shows his strength in writing toward the German.
This disc is a fun disc to listen to. There is nothing earth-shattering or new here, but these pieces are good compositions, and the performances by the Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava), under the direction of Michael Dittrich, is exemplary. This is one of those often-overlooked Eastern European orchestras that has incredible performance ability; they have had international touring experience as well as a number of recordings for Naxos, who is to be praised for bringing less popular music to the general public in an affordable way.