Danish Chamber Orchestra - Haydn: Late Symphonies, Vol. 3 - Nos. 99-101 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Haydn composed the three symphonies in this volume during the mid-1780s in a spirit of triumph. Though still employed by the Esterhazy family, he had recently been allowed to publish his music himself and to accept outside commissions. A number of symphonies were duly commissioned by a new, large ensemble recently established in Paris. Superficially similar, they reveal Haydn's inexhaustible creativity whether in the astonishingly colourful introduction to No. 84, the rustic interludes in the trio section of No. 85 - a favourite of Marie Antoinette, or in the greatest of the Paris symphonies, No. 86, where the transition from the slow introduction to the main section is unequalled in his music.

Adam Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra continue their ground-breaking survey of Haydn's late symphonies. This fourth volume presents Haydn's final three London symphonies performed with the same excitement and energy that can be found in Volumes 1-3 of this critically acclaimed series.

Composed in 1740, L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato is Handel's setting of poetry by John Milton, with additional verses (in the third part of three) by Charles Jennens. This oratorio is a kind of moderated dialogue between two personalities - the merry and carefree, and the thoughtful and ruminative. Jennens added Inchil ModeratoInch - the moderate man who balances the other two types. It seems not to have been Handel's intention to instruct listeners as to the most favorable type. Instead, he must have been most attracted by Milton's poetry, and by the opportunity to compose the sort of pastoral entertainment which he had found so congenial in earlier compositions. Sometimes the third part, entirely set to verses by Jennens, is dropped. This was the case even in Handel's time; it was felt that Jennens could not hold a candle to Milton. Some of the work's first recordings (for example, a 1960 version conducted by Sir David Willcocks) do the same, and also rearrange the remaining movements. This new version is given complete, however.