Haydn: Symphony No. 31 in D major ‘Horn Signal' (Auf dem Anstand)

There has been some doubt about the authenticity of Haydn’s Horn Concerto No. 2 but there is no doubt that it is a genuinely fine work for the natural horn. Wilhelm Brun is a specialist on this instrument and has made a name for himself as a chamber musician and soloist. These more obscure works make an interesting addition to this series.

The second volume of hybrid SACD recordings of the symphonies of Joseph Haydn by the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and it’s highly regarded conductor Jaap van Zweden, includes three works, all in the key of D Major, which strongly feature the sound of the horn section of the orchestra, Symphony No. 31, actually known as the “Hornsignal”, Symphony No. 72, and Symphony No. 73, which bears the knickname “The Hunt”.

The first symphony on the disc, No. 31 in D Major has the nickname 'Hornsignal' because it features four horns as against the usual two, whilst Symphony No. 72 also in D similarly incorporates the same size of horn section. The last work, Symphony No. 73 is referred to as 'La Chasse” (“The Hunt”), because of the style of the last movement, in which the horns play a prominent part.

Born in Amsterdam in 1960, at the age of nineteen Jaap van Zweden became the youngest ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Since beginning his conducting career in 1995, he has been Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra (1996-2000), and Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orchestra (2000-2005). He has already released the complete Beethoven symphonies with the Residentie Orchestra, and is currently in the middle of recording a cycle of the Bruckner Symphonies for Octavia.

"precision and panache…inventively characterised" Gramophone