Haydn Symphonies Nos 6-8, ‘Le matin’, ‘Le midi’, ‘Le soir’ Florilegium/Ashley Solomon Channel Classics CCS44722 70:29 mins
This famous triptych of symphonies, describing the various times of the day, marked the start of Haydn’s long career in the service of Prince Esterházy, who appointed him vice-Kapellmeister in the spring of 1761. Haydn was clearly keen to show off the skills of the players he had at his disposal, and each symphony contains elaborate solos for individual members of the orchestra: the slow movement of the middle work, ‘Le Midi’, for instance, is an operatic scena featuring solo violin and cello plus a pair of flutes playing in mellifluous thirds, and there’s an elaborate cadenza for the two stringed instruments alone. (The violin part would have been taken by the orchestra’s leader, Luigi Tommasini, given another long solo in the slow movement of ‘Le Soir’.)
Ashley Solomon coaxes lively performances out of the members of Florilegium, with the depictions of rain, lightning and thunder conjured up by Haydn in the concluding storm movement of ‘Le Soir’ sounding particularly vivid. Agata Daraskaite’s sweet-toned violin solos are a distinct asset, as are the double bass solos by Carina Cosgrave. The trio in the minuet movement of ‘Le Soir’, with its bass solo, is taken at a tempo that’s a good deal slower than the minuet itself, making it, perhaps, less hard to play, but it works musically. In all three symphonies the gap between the trio and the return of the minuet is a little too long, but that’s a small point. An enjoyable recording.
Misha Donat
