"In vivid, full-ranging recordings made by German Radio, Müller-Brühl conducts lively performances with his excellent chamber orchestra of three symphonies frrom around 1774. Müller-Brühl uses modern instruments, yet reflects period practice in asking for ery limited vibrato and light articulation from the strings."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4]

Haydn: Piano Sonatas Nos. 20 and 30-32

HAYDN: Symphonies, Vol. 5 (Nos. 85, 92, 103)

HAYDN: Symphonies, Vol. 15 (Nos. 72, 93, 95)

Symphonies Nos. 23 and 24 were written in 1764 for performance before Prince Nikolaus at Eisenstadt, where the Ester�hzy palace boasted a reception hall that could have held some four hundred people, although such numbers would not have been present at w hat was a purely domestic entertainment for the Prince, members of his family and entourage, and his guests. These symphonies form part of a group of eight symphonies written in 1764 and 1765. Symphony No. 23 in G major opens with a triple time Allegro, a lively and cheerful movement. It is followed by a slow movement scored for strings. To this the use of suspensions adds an element of poignancy, as the momentary discords are resolved. The Menuet is a canon between upper and lower parts, with a Trio that has motivic connections with the Menuet that frames it. The last movement makes use of dynamic contrasts, ending with a reduction of volume, instead of the expected emphatic conclusion. In Symphony No.24 in D major Haydn shows once more his ability to produce, even at this early stage of his career as a composer, music of infinite variety and invention, within existing formal limitations. The opening Allegro makes initial use of the wind and string timbres available in a sonata-allegro movement that has it's moments of stronger feeling in the central development. The slow movement makes use of the flute in apart apparently written for the Esterh�zy flautist Franz Sigl, for whom Haydn also wrote a flute concerto, now lost. Here he exploits the abilities of the player, allowing him a brief cadenza. The following Menuet is repeated after a Trio in which the flute again has apart to play. The two oboes of the orchestra return for a final movement of dramatic contrasts. Symphony No. 61 in D major belongs to a slightly later period of Haydn's life. It was written in 1776, at a time when Prince Nikolaus Esterh�zy's interests in theatre and opera predominated, with visiting theatre-troupes working at Esterh�za and a marionette theatre established there in 1773. Haydn provided music for operas on special occasions, but the seasonal presence of actors and the requirements of the marionette theatre involved the provision of incidental music for a variety of German plays, including translations of Shakespeare. Although the material Symphony No. 61 cannot be directly associated with any of the plays known to have been performed at Esterh�zy, it belongs to a group of symphonies that do make use of incidental music originally intended to accompany drama. These include Symphony No. 60, Il distratto, using music for Jean Fran�ois Regnard's play Le distrait and Symphony No. 63, La Roxelane, with music composed for Favart's Les trois sultanes. The vigorous opening Vivace of Symphony No. 61 is followed by a moving Adagio and a cheerful Menuet, with the customary repetition after a contrasting Trio. There is a particularly theatrical final movement that seems to tell it's own story.

Haydn: Symphonies, Vol. 7

HAYDN: Symphonies, Vol. 13 (Nos. 64, 84, 90)

"The Kodaly’s Haydn will now be familiar enough to many readers. It deploys a mellow, homogeneous tone and phrases with care and natural musicality. The first violin, very much primus inter pares in these early quartets, shapes the beautiful slow movements of Nos. 3 and 6 with unforced eloquence. The irrepressible, gigue-like opening movement of No. 6, with its adventurous tonal excursions (foreshadowing the similar opening movement in Op. 20 No. 6) , has a nice lift to the rhythms and a lively sense of give-and-take; and each of the minuets is well characterized, notably that of No. 3, with its bizarrely scored Trio (second violin and cello singing the tune two octaves apart, separated by a flowing accompaniment on the first violin and a rustic drone on the viola)."

-- Richard Wigmore, Gramophone [Awards Issue 1999]

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

Joseph Haydn was as prolific as any eighteenth century composer, his fecundity a matter, in good pan, of the nature of his employment and the length of his life. Born in 1732 in the village of Rohrau, the son of a wheelwright, he was recruited to the choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna at the age of eight, later earning a living as best he could as a musician in the capital and making useful acquaintances through his association with Metastasio, the Court Poet, and the composer Nicola Porpora. The first movement opens, as do most of the London symphonies, with a slow introduction, the solo oboe leading to the Allegro, in which the first violin proposes the principal theme, followed by a subsidiary theme in which the woodwind instruments at first answer the first violin. The development seems to end with a sudden pause, but what follows is in another key, leading eventually to the recapitulation proper. The G Major slow movement allows the wind instruments a gradually increasing share, after the announcement of the principal theme by the first violin. There is a Minor middle section, before the return of the main theme, with scoring for two solo violins. The Minuet calls for the full orchestra, with it's flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets and drums, while the companion Trio is dominated by the solo oboe. The finale is opened by the strings with the principal theme, a lively and delicate rondo, that includes an excursion into the Minor, with the same theme, and a contrapuntal development of the material. Symphony No. 82 in C Major, the first of the set, was written in 1786, one of a second group of three in order of composition. All seem to have been played for the first time during the 1787 concert season, when they were enthusiastically received. No. 85 appealed particularly to Queen Marie Antoinette, and was thereafter known as La Reine, while No. 83 became known as La poule, a reference to the clucking of a first movement melody rather than to any lady of the French court. No. 82 won the nickname L'Ours, The Bear, from the bagpipe bear-dance that opens it's last movement. The symphony provides a fine opportunity for the premier coup d'archet, the unanimous attack at the beginning of a work, a feature on which French orchestras prided themselves and that Mozart had found unexceptional. The gentler second subject of the first movement follows relatively startling discords. The slow movement, not a particularly slow one, offers two themes, the first in F Major, the second, a related one, in F Minor. These elements are repeated with variations, with a final repetition of an even more varied version of the first theme, followed by a coda. The French-style Menuet and it's contrasting Trio leads to the famous finale, with it's opening bagpipe drone from the cellos and double basses, and bear-dance violin melody, elements that dominate the rest of a remarkable movement.

Selections recorded October 1995 and April 1996.

"Müller-Brühl, as in his other Haydn recordings, favours broad adagios and Minuets that retain the idea of a stately dance. Yet the freshness and rhythmic resilience never fail to bring the performances to life. An excellent recommendation."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

Haydn: Symphonies, Vol. 3 (Nos. 44, 88, 104)

"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.

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HAYDN: Symphonies, Vol. 4 (Nos. 45, 48, 102)

Haydn's Farewell Symphony was written in 1772, occasioned by the prolonged stay of Prince Nikolaus Esterh�zy at his Hungarian palace. Some of the musicians had been compelled to leave their wives behind in Eisenstadt when the Prince took up his summer residence. The Symphony, in the final Adagio of which the musicians leave one by one, was intended as a delicate hint that the time had come to return to Eisenstadt, although some contemporary sources suggest that the subject of complaint was the possible reduction of the musical establishment. The Symphony, in the key of F sharp minor, is scored for the usual Esterh�za forces of pairs of oboes and horns, bassoon and strings. The first movement opens with the principal theme, descending arpeggios played by the first violins against sustained wind chords and the urgent syncopation of the second violins. Sonata form is treated with considerable freedom, the second subject making it's D major appearance in the development and the following recapitulation inviting an unusual further development of the principal theme. The A major second movement allows muted violins to announce the main theme, the wind having very little to add during the course of the movement. An F sharp major Minuet follows, with a Trio that allows the French horns momentary prominence. This leads to a finale that modulates to introduce the unexpected slow conclusion, in which player after player leaves the platform, until only two muted violins are left. Symphony No.101 belongs to the group of six symphonies written for Haydn's second visit to London in 1794. It was played there at a concert on 3rd March, followed by operatic songs, a performance by Viotti of a violin concerto and by Fiorillo of a Chaconne. Again, as with most of the London symphonies, there is a slow introduction, this time in D minor, an eerie preface to a bright D major movement from which the symphony derives it's nickname, The Clock, it's source the accompanying figure with which the movement opens. The Minuet returns from G major to the key of D major, it's Trio providing a lop-sided clock accompaniment to the initial flute melody. The symphony ends with a finale in which the second subject is a clear variant of the first. There is a D minor section, replaced by the major key to bring the work to a dramatic conclusion.

HAYDN: String Quartets Nos. 36-38

HAYDN: String Quartets Op. 76, Nos. 4 - 6

HAYDN: String Quartets Op. 33, Nos. 3, 4 and 6