When these recordings were made in the '50s, Haydn was not considered to be among the front-rank of composers. Certainly, some of his works were highly esteemed -- some of the later symphonies and string quartets along with The Seasons and The Creation have never left the repertoire -- but the vast majority of his works were rarely performed after his death and those that were, even the mighty symphonies, were not considered to be in quite the same league as Mozart's or Beethoven's. Of course, not all conductors at the time treated Haydn like a second-rank composer. There are excellent recordings by
Furtwängler,
Toscanini,
Walter, and
Klemperer of a handful of Haydn's later symphonies, and, on this disc,
Carl Schuricht turns in exceptional performances of Haydn's Symphony No. 100 and No. 95. With the admirable playing of the Radio Sinfonie Orchester Stuttgart,
Schuricht's Haydn is wise and witty, lyrical and dramatic, humane and sublime. In
Schuricht's hands, Haydn is in every way the musical equal of Mozart and Beethoven and surely a front-rank composer. Regrettably, one cannot say the same of
Schuricht's performance of Haydn's Cello Concerto in D major, or, to be more precise, one can say the same of
Schuricht's performance but not of cellist
Enrico Mainardi's. While the Munich-based cellist is best remembered for his soulful recording of Brahms' Double Concerto with
Furtwängler and his many marvelous recordings as part of the Edwin Fischer Trio, his performance here is more than slightly out of tune -- listen to his first-movement cadenza -- and woefully ponderous -- his tempo for the closing Presto is closer to Allegretto. Still, for fans of Haydn and
Schuricht, this disc will be well worth hearing. Hänssler Classic's remastered half-century-old sound is clean enough to pass for half its age.