Having recorded his Mozart series for Telarc with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras here turns to the admirable American Orchestra of St Luke's for Haydn, an outstanding issue in every way, vividly recorded. What may surprise many on looking at the information above is that two early Haydn symphonies take between them 68½ minutes to play. It is not because Sir Charles chooses slow speeds, far from it, but because as in his Mozart series he is meticulous about observing repeats, and there are many of them here. Not only are the second halves repeated in the first movements, the slow movements are similarly treated, so that the Adagio of No. 31 takes over ten minutes and that of No. 45 no less than 14'24''. Also, each half of the theme and seven variations which makes up the finale of the Hornsignal gets its repeat, making that 11'46''.
I begin to feel that, whatever purists might say, enough might be enough, and that I should not want to play even delectably inspired Haydn at such length every time. How splendid if one day CD would allow you to opt for repeats or not as you require. Not that the performances, crisply pointed with fine articulation, have you impatient to be finished.
The Hornsignal and the Farewell make an appropriate coupling of nicknamed symphonies both of them works which even more than usual have you involved in the life of Haydn and his players in Prince Esterhazy's Orchestra, the one marked by an unusually rich number of solos, the other associated with the famous story of Haydn giving the Prince a hint over the players needing a vacation. One continually registers Haydn's way of tailoring his ideas for individual players, so that the brilliant writing for the four horns in No. 31 is carefully graduated in difficulty between the first and the fourth. The St Luke's players, beautifully balanced cope superbly. Equally, the solos for flute, violin, cello and, in the seventh variation of the finale, even the violone, the regular bass instrument in the Esterhazy Orchestra, also seem to characterize individual players. When in the final Adagio of the Farewell Haydn modulates to F sharp major, he makes sure that only six of his string players have to cope with a key signature of six sharps.
That violone solo in No. 31, with both repeats observed, becomes quite a tough assignment for the St Luke's principal double-bass who has to do his utmost to make a cumbersome instrument sound sweet and in tune. The closeness of focus underlines the robustness of the writing rather than the elegance, giving the first movement of No. 31 an open-air vigour and a Sturm und Drang toughness to the F sharp minor Allegro of No. 45. Woodwind articulation of unphrased passages is detached to the point of sounding staccato, and minuets as usual with Mackerras are taken relatively fast. The whole enterprise makes one want to hear more.'