Robin Ticciati & SCO - Haydn: Symphonies 31, 70 & 101 - Sinfini Music

This recording offers an excellent beginner's guide to Haydn's symphonies, says Kimon Daltas, who enjoys lively performances captured in high-quality audio.

Haydn, universally admired but nowhere near as frequently performed as his pupils Mozart and Beethoven, wrote 106 symphonies, of which 22 - like the three on this disc - are in D major. Faced with those figures, you'd be forgiven for feeling that getting to know the composer's symphonies, even just those in a single key, is a daunting task. But all you need is somewhere to start, and this is a perfect place.

The three symphonies span a period of around 30 years - the earliest still with a lingering Baroque flavour, the latest (premiered a couple of years after Mozart's death) absolutely high Classical. They illuminate different aspects of Haydn's style, which can seem at first quite genteel, but hides plenty of quirks and experiments, which the liner notes by Cambridge lecturer Martin Ennis will help you understand - when you aren't just appreciating the music for its own joyous sake.

The booklet, a healthy 36 pages, includes two other essays, one by superstar musicologist Richard Taruskin, which contextualises Haydn and his place in the age of Enlightenment and goes some way towards justifying the premium price.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, playing on period instruments under Robin Ticciati's direction, plays with subtlety and vim, with particularly fine work from the natural horns in their prominent place in No.31.

This being the audiophile Linn label, the disc is dual SACD/CD, while Symphony No.101 is also available on its own as a Supercut 45rpm LP - though the plain CD sounds plenty nice enough for most ears.