This slim "Collector's Edition" five-CD box of Haydn Symphonies is a delight from start to finish. Eugen Jochum was a wonderful Haydn conductor and even in this age of historically informed performance orthodoxy, no apologies are necessary. These are simply great performances that represent everything we want from a Haydn recording: buoyant rhythms, crisp execution, elegance, and good-hearted humor. Jochum's fast allegro movements are paced with a sense of rightness; I never found myself wishing for slightly faster or slower tempos, and the conductor takes the trouble to differentiate among the various symphonies' slow movements and minuets. So in the minuet of Symphony No. 94 ("Surprise"), he hits accents hard--there's no question that it's a dance, even if the dancers are elephants--while the minuet of No. 103 is more delicately traced, conjuring pictures of a formal ballroom. There's plenty of zing to Jochum's outer movements, and pieces like No. 93's finale whiz by with brio, while that symphony's Largo cantabile is done with a radiance bespeaking the conductor's love for the music. All of Jochum's slow movements have a singing warmth that makes them irresistible.

The first four discs in the set contain the dozen "London" Symphonies and were recorded in the early 1970s. All are with an alertly responsive London Philharmonic, which plays with polish and a transparency that owes much to the engineers and more to Jochum's impeccable balances. Note also should be made of the expressive solos, especially in the minuets of Symphonies 95 to 97.

The final disc collects three symphonies Jochum recorded with German orchestras--No. 91 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony (1958), and Nos. 88 and 98 with the Berlin Philharmonic (1961 and 1962). They're on the same exalted level, played with slightly more warmth and recorded with slightly less presence. Note that there are two No. 98s in this box. The 1973 London recording is cut from the same premium cloth as the Berlin outing a decade earlier, and the differences are minimal.

Jochum's versions stand out even in a catalogue that abounds in desirable recordings of late Haydn symphonies. Colin Davis' readings may have more solidity, Beecham's more humor, Szell's more exuberance, and Böhm's may be more beefy (and I haven't even mentioned the zesty Kuijken and Brüggen among the original instrument versions), but Jochum manages to combine the virtues of all and the deficiencies of none. At budget price, it's foolhardy to pass this one by.

--Dan Davis