HAYDN, M.: Concertos, Minuets, Divertimento - Tuckwell, Preston, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Vienna Octet

Michael Haydn, brother of Joseph, was a highly proficient composer in his own right who earned the respect and affection of his contemporaries. A Gramophone reviewer described him thus: ‘He is a man whose character, it seems to me, always comes clearly through his music: he was cheerful, easygoing, unambitious (also, said the Mozarts, inclined to the bottle)’. In recent decades, his music has begun to be more widely appreciated, due largely to the efforts of the American musicologist, Charles Sherman, whose discoveries include this Horn Concerto in D major. This collection, originally issued on Decca’s ‘Serenata’ series in 1993, has long been out of circulation, and offers music of incredible charm and warmth. Hidden, as it were, from history, it is now exhumed on Eloquence.

M HAYDN
1-3 Horn Concerto in D major, P.134
4 Six Minuets, P.70
5-7 Duo Concertante for Organ and Viola, P.55
Barry Tuckwell, horn
Simon Preston, organ
Stephen Shingles, viola
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner

8-11 Divertimento in G major
Members of the Vienna Octet