Haydn [Symphony] Symphonies - No. 77 in B flat; No. 78 in C minor; No. 79 in F Northern Chamber Orchestra / Nicholas Ward

Naxos R 8 553363 (58 minutes: DDD)

A trio of [symphony] symphonies from the early 1780s played with panache by this Manchester- based band

Naxos has divided its projected Haydn symphony cycle between four or more different groups, all of them commendable. Yet having just played again the disc of the three symphonies preceding these, Nos. 74-6, in performances by the Cologne Chamber Orchestra under Helmut Muller-Bruhl (Naxos, 1/98) , I am the more impressed by the extra stylishness of these readings with the Northern Chamber Orchestra, notably in the way that Nicholas Ward keeps the music moving in slow movements, which, with the Cologne orchestra, tends to drag.

Not only that, the lightness and resilience of the performances in outer movements is matched by the fresh, transparent recording. It is a measure of Ward’s success that in general I even prefer these new recordings to the vintage ones of Dorati on Decca (6/91) , which have stood the test of time so remarkably well. As has been said many times, Dorati by latter-day standards regularly takes minuets too slowly and heavily, hardly ever giving them the scherzando quality they often need and which Ward regularly gives them. Ward’s choice of speeds cannot be faulted and he brings out the Sturm und Drang element which haunts the first movement of the C minor Symphony, No. 78, as well as the largely minor-key development section of the finale of No. 77, one of the first examples of a sonata rondo - a wonderful moment.

As always with performances such as these of Haydn symphonies, one marvels afresh at the sustained imagination of these consistently inspired works, rarely if ever betraying any hint that they were produced for Prince Esterhazy as a workaday duty. ‘Laus Deo’ - Praise be to God - as he so often wrote at the end of scores.