Founded in 1956, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra was admired by Shostakovich, who wrote that the orchestra ''never failed to amaze [him] with its musicality and strength of execution''. They usually performed without a conductor (perhaps consciously following the example of the Persimfans Orchestra, founded in 1922 in the Soviet capital and the object of political support) and this is the case here. But to judge from these Haydn performances there is no question of a gimmick. Today there are several other examples of chamber orchestras that dispense with a formal conductor—in effect they are led by the first violinist, a figure usually credited as 'director', though not in this case, where no artist is identified.
In the event, these performances, by what appears to be a smallish orchestra, do have personality, whether or not it be a collective one there is point and eloquence in the playing and (besides the obvious matter of synchronicity) a unanimity of articulation and tone among the strings. The darker aspects of the Trauer and Passione Symphonies are conveyed without exaggeration and on the whole expressive proportion is maintained within and between the movements of each, while the character of the individual works also emerges, even though both have clear Sturm und Drang elements. Slow movements are unhurried yet alert, with their depth and charm alike conveyed.
The analogue recording (from 1983) is no more than reasonably satisfying, though with good dynamic range. The wind players are rather over-shadowed, there is background hiss in the A major and F minor Symphonies and a dryness and occasional rawness to the sound that are noticeable in more vigorous music. The richer-toned (and more modern) Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (DG) and Cantilena (Chandos) discs may deservedly be better liked. But with a generous 74 minutes at medium price and three symphonies instead of two this Olympia CD is worth thinking about, for while the similarly conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's finely recorded versions of Symphonies Nos. 44 and 49 are more vital and preferable musically, each CD comprises only two symphonies—No. 44 coupled with No. 77; No. 49 with No. 48—and the discs play at only 44 and 51 minutes respectively. Adrian Shepherd and Cantilena offer three symphonies (the third being No. 43) and play intelligently, but for my taste they rather over-romanticize Nos. 44 and 49 and allow some heaviness to creep in (e.g. in the Minuet of No. 49) and the recorded sound is too ripe and reverberant.'