For this latest in their Haydn series the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra have alighted on three works from the years 1778-84, when the composer's operatic activities at the Esterhazy court left him relatively little time for the production of symphonies. There is a direct theatrical connection with No. 73, whose rollicking 'hunting' finale is a recycling, with added trumpets and drums, of the overture to the comic opera La fedelta premiata. The obscurely nicknamed No. 53 was a spectacular success with Parisian and London audiences, who relished the mingled sophistication and ceremonial grandeur of the opening movement and the minuet, and the frankly popular flavour of the Andante, one of Haydn's earliest sets of alternating major/minor variations. No. 79, with its easy, elegant tunefulness, is also a deliberately popular work, though lighter and more chamber-musical in tone than the two D major symphonies. A couple of salient features are the radical rethinking of the recapitulation in the urbane opening movement, and the pungent Poco allegro which breaks in on the courtly, decorative Adagio cantabile second movement.
As ever, the conductor-less New York orchestra give lithe, impeccably groomed performances. Tempos tend to be swift, articulation exceptionally buoyant and precise, phrasing stylish and gracious. I was often struck by the point and character of the woodwind playing—in the minuets of Nos. 73 and 79, for instance, where the trio repeats are wittily decorated. In fact, all three minuets are beautifully judged, poised and light of foot (Dorati, in his complete Decca cycle, sounds ponderous by comparison); and the Andantes of the two D major symphonies are nicely done, too, with an awareness of deeper currents beneath the perky charm of No. 73. In some of the fast movements, though, the Orpheus can scamper a touch blithely over the surface. The opening Vivace of No. 53, for instance, has considerably more grandeur and gravitas in the two rival performances listed above, which both (especially Harnoncourt) make more of the horns and timpani at strategic points.
Dorati is also broader, sturdier and ultimately more powerful in the complex opening movement of No. 73, and, again at a slower tempo, characterizes the Poco allegro in No. 79 more vividly, bringing out its faintly exotic, Hungarian flavour. The Orpheus are merely fleet and dapper here. Throughout this symphony, too, they seem to me to miss a number of tricks with Haydn's horn writing, especially in the finale, where the horns are far too reticent in the B flat episode (from 2'18'') and the coda (4'15''ff). Another minor quibble is the Orpheus's decision to play virtually all grace notes as crushed acciaccaturas (e.g. No. 73, first movement, bar 30, 1'43''; No. 79, second movement, opening of Poco allegro, 4'01''), where longer appoggiaturas, as adopted by Dorati, seem to me to make better musical sense.
For all my provisos, there's a lot of pleasure to be had from these nimble and elegantly crafted performances, cleanly recorded, though the close balance slightly overfavours the violins. My own preference, though, would be for Harnoncourt with his Viennese period band in No. 53, more probing than the Orpheus, despite his predictably eccentric way with the minuet (incidentally, like the Orpheus but unlike Dorati, Harnoncourt chooses to play the Capriccio Haydn substituted for the original finale), and for Dorati in the other two symphonies, marginally less polished than the Orpheus and surely too slow in the minuets, but bringing a greater sense of symphonic purpose to the sonata-form Allegros and more wit to the rondo finale of No. 79.'