These are mostly excellent performances. Given sufficient clarity of woodwind detail and a powerful presence of trumpets and drums in the fortes, Haydn sounds best when played by large orchestras on modern instruments, and that’s just what we have here. Consider Jaap van Zweden’s colorful attack on the “Surprise” symphony’s famous Andante, or the athletic chattering of trumpets and horns in the opening theme of No. 97’s finale. He doesn’t set a foot wrong anywhere except in the minuets, which are just a touch under tempo and a little soft-edged. This is clearly by choice, since the sonics are outstanding and van Zweden shows himself to be keenly sensitive to those little atmospheric touches (the lyrical soft trumpets in the “Oxford” symphony’s finale, for example) that give the music much of its ear-catching appeal. Certainly this one point hardly detracts from the overall quality of the interpretations, and if the coupling suits, then by all means give this disc a shot. [2/3/2010]
