Giovanni Antonini & Kammerorchester Basel - Haydn 2032, Vol. 11: Au goût parisien - BBC Music Magazine

On this new recording, featuring the first and last in the series of symphonies written for Paris, the Basel Chamber Orchestra has around a quarter that number, but only in the opening movement of Symphony No. 82, with its piercing trumpet parts, are the strings in any danger of being overpowered. Its finale’s hurdy-gurdy-like drone has earned the symphony its nickname of the ‘Bear’. While that work does without a real slow movement, the Symphony No. 87 has a profound Adagio with prominent parts – including a couple of mini-cadenzas – for flute, oboe and bassoon. The flute comes even more to the fore in the slow movement of No. 24, which may be the surviving portion from a lost concerto for that instrument.

Antonini’s characteristically lively performances – part of his ongoing complete Haydn symphonies series – afford much pleasure throughout.