Haydn’s patrons certainly had their idiosyncratic tastes in instruments. In the 1760s and early 1770s the composer turned out reams of works to gratify Prince Nicolaus Esterházy’s passion for the baryton, a bass viol with additional harp-like metal strings that vibrated in sympathy with the bowed strings. Over a decade later came a lucrative commission from King Ferdinand IV of Naples for concertos for the lira organizzata (a hurdy-gurdy with an inbuilt miniature organ, which soon became obsolete). These mini-chamber concertos – which the king played with his lira tutor – went down so well that another commission quickly followed for a set of notturni. Modern performances replace the two lire with flute and oboe (occasionally two flutes), as Haydn did when he performed the concertos and Notturni in London. This is charming, easy-going music, yet the Notturni (especially) are full of exquisite touches of part-writing and chromatic harmony, with the woodwind complement (flute, oboe, clarinets and horns) discoursing in kaleidoscopically varied textures.

Manfred Huss and his expert period-instrument ensemble can be brisk and unyielding in some of the slow movements – say, the siciliano Andantes in lira concertos Nos 1 and 5. But the faster movements combine rhythmic verve, carefully judged instrumental balance and an infectious sense of enjoyment. Highlights include the gleeful, racy finales of Notturni Nos 1, 3 and 4, full of quickfire repartee, deftly dispatched.

The baryton is represented here by a divertimento and the seven octets of 1775, in which the instrument adds its distinctive dusky, buzzy resonance to an ensemble of strings and horns. Allegros are cheerful and compact, enlivened by some spectacular horn antics at both extremes of their compass. Most memorable, though, are the eloquent, often surprisingly intense Adagios. Again the playing is crisp and spirited, with the superb horn-players not afraid to bray incontinently in movements such as the variation finale of No 2 and the opening Allegro of No 5.

The earliest music on these discs is the set of six so-called (not by the composer) Scherzandi, composed shortly after Haydn’s Esterházy appointment in 1761. These are frolicsome miniature four-movement symphonies, with a lilting flute solo (delightfully played by Reinhard Czasch) in the Trio of each of the Minuets. Huss can, again, short-change the delicacy of the slow movements, though elsewhere the performances bring out all the young composer’s teeming energy and irreverent sense of fun, not least in the tiny, explosive Presto finales. With detailed notes from Huss and vivid, natural recorded sound, this superbudget-price compilation of recordings from the 1990s makes an attractive, offbeat contribution to the 2009 Haydn junketings.