German-born Heinrich Joseph Riegel (1741-99) settled in Paris in 1768 and became Henri-Joseph Rigel. The booklet-note tells us that he “seems very rapidly to have won a reputation among artistic circles”, and from 1783 onwards “was one of the 10 official composers attached to the Concert Spirituel, where he was also appointed head of the orchestra”.

In Rigel’s day, this band (1725-91) regularly featured four bassoons. But as Garland Publishing’s thematic index of his symphonies (14 extant, four lost) shows only two had written parts for these instruments. So they would mostly have reinforced the bottom line; and Concerto Köln, smaller in size, use one for the same purpose.

A driving Allegro assai that opens the C minor work (No 4) of 1767 proclaims a Sturm und Drang agitation and unease that the group portrays to the hilt. Militant horns, plaintive oboes and razor-edged strings mingle with an impressively controlled virtuosity. When, additionally, they all speak as expressively as they do in the lamenting slow movement, it becomes hard to believe that this ensemble has no conductor. Impossible to describe all the felicities but sample the dynamism of No 7, the only symphony with trumpets and timpani; and revel in the Andante moderato of No 14 where strings alternating between pizzicato and arco play with the utmost feeling and nuance. The sound is slightly astringent but the balance is right, the harpsichord continuo commendably helpful rather than vociferously distracting. In sum, superb music superbly performed.