Giovanni Francesco Giuliani was a Classical-era Italian composer not to be confused with his unrelated, slightly later and more renowned contemporary, the guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani, who is already well represented on Brilliant Classics with guitar concertos (BC92961), duets (BC93381) and songs for soprano and guitar (BC94779).

Giovanni Francesco was a violinist by training and profession, born and schooled in Livorno but who made his career in Florence, where he became a highly regarded teacher and performer: he led the orchestra in several premieres of Rossini operas such as Il turco in Italia and Il barbiere di Siviglia. Giuliani also composed dramatic music of his own but he was better known in his own time for instrumental pieces which are indebted in style to the galant music of his teacher Pietro Nardini, whose string quartets (BC94438) and sonatas (BC93347) may also be found in Brilliant Classics recordings.

The earlier Giuliani composed 12 Nocturnes for clarinet and harp which here receive their first complete recording. They each have the structure of a slow introduction and a cheerful, quick main movement, unpretentious in character but written with brilliance as well as skill for their instruments, taking full advantage of the contrasting tonal qualities of clarinet and harp.

The release is enhanced by contextual notes about this little-known composer by the clarinettist Luigi Magistrelli, who already has a distinguished discography to his credit on Brilliant Classics. He particularly specialises in reviving the work of little-known composers, and has recorded chamber and ensemble music with clarinet by Archduke Rudolph (BC94952), Caspar Kummer (BC94472) and Ferdinand Rebay (BC94171). This release will be of immediate interest to clarinettists and enthusiasts for out-of-the-way chamber music.