Father Of The Symphony ?

The BBC is really going overboard this year with the anniversary concept. Of the four composers they have targeted, we have now had the BBC music magazine cover disk offerings for Handel and Mendelssohn and this month it is the turn of Haydn with Purcell no doubt due to make an appearance in the autumn. The Haydn disk has four symphonies, numbers 22, 26, 67 and 80. The performers are the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Nicholas Kraemer. These happen to be the only recordings of Haydn symphonies that I have, I suspect that the mere concept of someone having written over a hundred has put me off even attempting to get a perspective on their ouevre. So on that basis I was pleased to have the disk. I have read some criticism of the playing from other sources but to my inexpert ears it sounds perfectly acceptable, veering towards the historically informed end of modern instrument performances. The two earlier symphonies show a Bachian church influence with chorale developments while the sleeve notes eliablyy inform me that the later two symphonies owe something to the world of opera buffa and are edging towards the mature style shown in Paris and London. If I get the opportunity I shall progress to investigating these even later works, I'm pretty sure the upcoming Proms may provide chances for that !