“… Casanova’s overture … is perhaps the most immediately appealing music to be heard on the disc. The early Venus auf Erden overture also deserves an individual mention. Energetic and driven, it goes with an attractive, crowd-pleasing swing and impresses as more of a unified concept than some of Lincke’s other early and somewhat more piecemeal works. The waltz sequence Verschmähte Liebe – a surprisingly upbeat composition given that its title translates as Unrequited love – is quite delightful and an undoubted success, while the late stand-alone pieces Ouvertüre zu einem Ballett and Ouvertüre zu einer Operette demonstrate the composer’s undoubted and undiminished skill … CPO’s engineers have made a splendid job of recording these pieces and the skilfully delivered performances by the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt are thereby heard to best advantage. Conductor Ernst Theis, though not a native Berliner, is clearly a master of Lincke’s idiom and delivers the scores affectionately, expertly deploying vigour or sentimentality as required…”