Recorded in 1988 at the first crest of the period instrument movement,
Jeffrey Tate and the
English Chamber Orchestra's several discs of
Haydn's London Symphonies were not highly regarded at the time they were first released. In those days, a modern instrument orchestra, even a chamber-sized modern instrument orchestra, was judged prima facia ineligible to play
Haydn, and the
English Chamber Orchestra's plush-toned strings, warm-hearted winds, brush-polished brass, and big-bottomed timpani were deemed ipso facto disqualified. Nor was their suit advanced by
Tate's large-gestured, broad-shouldered approach, which some said made the music seem more like early
Beethoven than late
Haydn.
Re-released in 2007 as a coupling of Symphonies Nos. 99 in E flat major and No. 101 in D major, "The Clock,"
Tate and the orchesra's
Haydn music sounds less of its time than of a earlier time, a time when
Haydn was considered not so much
Beethoven's predecessor as
Beethoven's equal.
Tate and the orchestra's
Haydn is brilliant, brawny, bumptious, and ambitious. This approach may not fit with the standard view of the composer as vigorous, vivacious, and urbane, but here it is thoroughly thought through and supremely well executed and, for those who let themselves be persuaded, convincing. Recorded in 1988 in the early years of digital sound by producer
David Groves for EMI, the orchestra sounds a bit distant, but life-size and colorful.