Can we really have too much of a good thing in this music? The virtues of Thomas Fey’s Haydn are well known, and are firmly on display here: the cutting timpani and brass in Symphony No. 41, the blazingly fast presto finales of all three symphonies, and the amazingly clear textures. But isn’t the canonic minuet of No. 44 really taken much more quickly than contrapuntal clarity and the Allegretto tempo dictate? Can the orchestra really articulate the finale’s jagged principal theme with the necessary violence at this speed? And doesn’t that wholly unnecessary harpsichord continuo blur the rhythm in No. 47’s finale and buzz annoyingly? Don’t get me wrong: these are exciting, mostly enjoyable performances, immaculately played, but there’s more emotional depth in this music than Fey seems willing to allow. A touch less haste and relentlessness, and consequently a bit more time to savor the details even in fast movements, might have paid big dividends in what is in most other respects a very impressive disc.
