MICHAEL HAYDN : Symphonies, Vol. 1 (2016) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This album, the first in a series devoted to the 41 symphonies of Michael Haydn, leads off with perhaps the most historically famous one of all: the Sinfonia in G major, Perger 16, is none other than the missing Symphony No. 37 of Mozart, which was not removed from the Mozart canon until 1907. The reason for the error was that a copy of the work exists in Mozart's handwriting; he wrote a slow introduction to the first movement (not performed here), and apparently copied out the piece in preparation. It remains difficult to believe that listeners' suspicions weren't raised before that; the work's simple, squarish movements resemble those of the symphonies Mozart wrote in his mid-teens. The Sinfonia in D major (Perger 21), with its larger dimensions, comes a good deal closer to Mozart. The four symphonies are all tuneful, well constructed, and they benefit from the relaxed, slightly jocular performances by the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice (in whose hall the music was nicely recorded) under Patrick Gallois. An interesting feature of the music is the retention of the harpsichord parts, which seems justified in view of the cadenza-like passages in which they emerge from the background. Not Mozart by any stretch, but recommended for Classical period buffs. by James Manheim