Album of the Weekend: 'Three joyous Haydn symphonies from the brilliant Kammerorchester Basel.'
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Studio Master (192) FLAC
Total running time: 82 minutes.
Giovanni Antonini is reunited with the Kammerorchester Basel for the twelfth volume in the widely acclaimed Haydn2032 series which is devoted to ‘games and pleasures’.
The symphonies recorded here, nos. 61, 66 and 69, were composed for the daily theatrical performances held at Eszterháza Palace in the spring of 1776. For Haydn they marked the end of a festive period, before he had to return to the serious business of writing operas.
The ‘Toy Symphony’, attributed to Haydn for 200 years before it was discovered that it was in all probability composed by a Benedictine monk, completes the programme in a similarly light and cheerful atmosphere.