Here’s a really useful budget survey of some of the best of Michael Haydn’s (Joseph’s talented but less-appreciated younger brother) orchestral works. First up are a group of four symphonies, not the batch featured on Matthias Bamert’s Chandos disc (in the “Contemporaries of Mozart” series) but instead including Michael’s very first symphony, in E-flat, written in 1760 and already giving notice of his complete mastery of the form. It’s very well played by the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra under János Rolla, in this agile, cleanly articulated account. The later symphonies in C (1777) and D (1774) are somewhat more brilliant; their wit and inventiveness hardly seem inferior to anything that Joseph was writing at the time. The pair has been recorded by the Oradea Philharmonic for Olympia, but the transfers are fairly primitive and the playing so rough and ready that you can confidently overlook those accounts. On the other hand, Rolla and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra are again excellent–and the concluding allegro molto of the A major symphony gives these Polish players an ideal chance to show their mettle, with outstanding ensemble work from the strings (the violins are especially fine) and much distinguished wind playing.
Disc 2 of this package includes the charming B-flat major violin concerto performed by Thomas Zehetmair, who also provides the cadenzas. It’s a vigorous, technically adroit reading, with the taxing double-stopped triplet passagework of the opening allegro and fine-spun legato playing in the adagio just two examples of Zehetmair’s highly sophisticated achievement. Berkhardt Godhoff recorded this concerto for Schwann; it’s an agreeable, efficient reading, but neither the stodgy accompaniments from the BBC Scottish Symphony nor the rather washy, poorly-focused recording match Zehetmair’s precision nor Teldec’s pin-sharp sonics. Zehetmair is joined by the violist Tabea Zimmerman in the little C major duet for violin and viola, also very nicely done, which follows Dale Clevenger’s estimable performance of the D major concertino for horn and orchestra. Clevenger’s fearless high-register playing and rock-solid technique are superb in every way. Another fine reissue from Teldec Ultima, and well worth having as a companion to all those symphonies by Joseph you’ve got sitting on your shelves.
