François-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) was the leading composer of the French Revolution, and his "lyric divertissement" Le Triomphe de la République, premiered in 1793, is one of the many spectacular stage works he produced in its aftermath. The subject is life in the army camp at Grand Pré during the battle of Valmy in 1792, when the French forces saw off a monarchist Prussian army led by the Duke of Brunswick.

The score is gloriously proletarian, subverting the aristocratic conventions of 18th-century French opera by substituting revolutionary songs for arias and choruses. Some may find its overtly bellicose mood objectionable. At the same time it's hard not to be swept away by its rabble-rousing intensity, particularly given that the performance, with Diego Fasolis conducting I Barocchisti and a first-rate cast, is so convincing.