With this third volume (the first two were reviewed in 12/96), Nicholas Ward and the Northern Chamber Orchestra complete their series of Mendelssohn’s youthful string symphonies, joining others who include the Hanover Band (RCA), the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam (BIS, 6/94, 9/95 and 11/96), the Concerto Cologne, the English String Orchestra (Nimbus, 3/89) and the London Festival Orchestra (Hyperion, 12/91). Once completely unknown outside the library, these delightful and in many ways enterprising works have been a natural draw to string orchestras, and since they demand plenty in the way of instrumental skill and liveliness but, really, little in the way of interpretative subtlety, it is unsurprising that there is not a great deal to choose between the different versions. In some of the earlier symphonies, Ward seemed to be setting unnecessarily fast tempos, which did not over-tax his players but which sometimes left the music too little time to breathe. There is no suggestion of this here: the Allegro molto finales of Nos. 11 and 12 speed along with a lively spring, but with plenty of air in the rhythms. Other tempos are nicely chosen, such as that of the Swiss song in No. 11, and Ward pays agreeable attention to the niceties of scoring which were absorbing the young Mendelssohn. There is plenty to enjoy here, and in the whole of his set. Roy Goodman’s Hanover Band have a particular brightness and charm, though their set is at full price. It also includes, as does Ward’s and that of the Concerto Cologne, the Thirteenth Symphony, the so-called Sinfoniesatz.

John Warrack, Gramophone [Awards Issue 1997]

MENDELSSOHN: String Symphonies, Vol. 2

HANDEL: Oboe Concertos Nos. 1- 3 / Suite in G Minor

TELEMANN: Changeante (La) / Les Nations Anciens et Modernes

MOZART: Symphonies Nos. 1 - 5

Italian Oboe Concertos, Vol. 1

HAYDN: Symphonies, Vol. 20 (Nos. 77, 78, 79)

"An entirely winning triptych of named Haydn symphonies, spanning a highly creative period...Alert and vivacious playing from all concerned; admirable pacing and first-class sound ensure a welcome for a disc that would be just as recommendable it it cost far more."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

Symphony No. 26 in D minor seems to have been written in 1768 or thereabouts and is scored for the usual Esterh�za forces of pairs of oboes and French horns, bassoon, strings and cembalo. Haydn completed his Symphony No. 35 in B flat major on 1st December 1767, scoring the work for pairs of oboes and high B flat horns, bassoon, strings and cembalo. What starts light-heartedly enough assumes a graver air in the central development, where contrapuntal use of earlier thematic material introduces an element of stronger feeling, with the recapitulation marked by the ascent of the first horn to unusual heights. The E flat major slow movement is scored for strings only with music of considerable charm. The wind instruments return for the Minuet, but are excluded from the E flat Trio, with it's triplet rhythm handed from second to first violin. The symphony ends with a cheerful Finale and the tone of the whole work has led Robbins Landon to suggest that it might have been written to celebrate the return from Paris of Prince Esterh�zy, who had visited France in the autumn of 1767 with the presumed object of learning more about the Palace of Versailles that his own new palace at Esterh�za was to imitate and rival. Symphony No.49, La Passione, was written in 1768 and is scored for pairs of oboes, French horns in F, bassoon, strings and originally cembalo. This work, in the key of F minor, belongs clearly to the dramatic mood of Sturm und Drang, although not so called until the publication in 1777 of Klinger's play of that name. Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress), a self-explanatory title, describes well enough the current literary mode of extravagant expression of emotions, partly reflected in some of the music of the period. Haydn's symphony follows the old pattern of the church sonata, opening with a slow movement. A degree of tension is generated in the following Allegro di molto, not least by the wide leaps and syncopation of the first violin in the opening of the movement, leading to a calmer shift to the relative major key. The Minuet, in which first and second violins double one another for much of the time, frames an F major Trio that makes use of the high range of the first horn. The final monothematic Presto brings to an end a symphony that enjoyed very considerable popularity in Haydn's life-time, the culmination of a particular development of the symphony and the expression of a depth of feeling that ensured serious consideration for the genre. A symphony of this kind was no mere diversion. Northern Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Formed in 1967, the orchestra has established itself as one of England's finest chamber ensembles. Though often augmented to meet the requirements of the concert program, the orchestra normally contains 24 musicians and performs both in concert and on disc without a conductor. Their repertoire ranges from the baroque era to music of our time, and they have gained a reputation for imaginative program planning.

HOFMANN: Violin Concertos