Adjacent numerically, these two symphonies were composed some years apart (No 54, 1774; No 53, c1777‑79). And, while L’impériale has attracted the attention of conductors ranging from Stokowski to Kuijken, the G major was hitherto unavailable on CD outside the complete recorded cycles. That’s a pity, as it’s by no means an inferior work, with a driving, horn-led first movement and an Adagio assai of considerable beauty. Trumpets, drums and a slow introduction add a ceremonial sheen which Fey naturally doesn’t undersell, although these were later additions and it’s instructive to dig out, if you can, Christopher Hogwood’s recording of the original version (L’Oiseau-Lyre, 5/98 – nla), free from the weight of the added brass.

No 53 is a potpourri work, assembled from different sources, and there is a choice of finales. Fey presents “Version A”, a quirky capriccio, but as an appendix offers “Version B”, identical in all but scoring to the Overture HobIa/7, which, to add to the confusion, was also pressed into action in slightly varied form as the opening movement of Symphony No 62. Stokowski (Cala, 11/02) prefers “Version C”, almost certainly not by Haydn, while the Dorati set contains Versions A, B, C and “D”, another D major overture. We will be testing you on this later.

Fey’s usual idiosyncrasies are in place: you may find the look-at-me ornamentation wearying in the slow movement of No 53; he falls prey to Adám Fischer’s single-strings tendency in that of No 54; once again he’s happy to let brass and drums pad out their parts. Radio 3 (on behalf of the EBU) broadcast a fantastic performance of No 53 by the Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik on the anniversary of Haydn’s death in 2009: would that Harmonia Mundi would issue that! Fey’s performances always leave me breathless, seldom less than invigorated, often infuriated, and it’ll be fascinating to hear how he measures up when only the less outgoing symphonies are left to be recorded.