EXPLORING MUSIC: Graceful, Elegant Readings/Adrian Shepherd Cantilena Haydn Symphonies

Everything was fair game for Haydn's symphonic treatment: folk tunes and folk-like tunes; plainchant; unusual combinations of instruments; sudden alternations of loud and soft, calm and agitated music. This is nowhere seen more clearly than in the symphonies he wrote for his crack band of Esterhazy musicians: a body of music which seems to leave no musical device, effect, emotion, or sonority untried, and of which we are given a generous sampling in this two-record set of "middle-period" symphonies dating between 1764 and 1771.

What's in a nickname? Plenty, for a piece of music. It's no secret that the most familiar Haydn symphonies are those with nicknames, given not by Haydn but by his publishers. Often musical nicknames have nothing to do with the music at hand (witness the "Moonlight" Sonata or the "Jupiter" Symphony).

In the case of the best-known symphony here, "The Philosopher," however, the grave and profound character of the opening Adagio seems to merit the nickname. The "philosophical" quality is also enhanced by one of Haydn's typically daring choices of instrumental color: the use of two English horns rather than the customary two oboes of the classical orchestra. But then, all these middle-period symphonies are full of virtuoso writing for the principal players of what must have been a remarkable little band.

The current set also puts the lie to the stereotype that Haydn's music is rarely profound or expressive of deep emotion. His contemporaries knew better. His 12 "London" Symphonies stirred British audiences profoundly;

one critic even called Haydn "the Shakespeare of Music.'' Much earlier an equally perspicacious English critic praised Symphony no. 24 for its ''phrenzy and fire." Indeed, the first movement of no. 24, and Allegro movements in the ''Philosopher," ''Passion,'' and ''Mercury'' Symphonies recorded here, comprise febrile, agitated music quite at odds with the bland image of ''Papa Haydn.''

The Scottish chamber orchestra Cantilena has made several highly regarded recordings of baroque and early classical repertoire, and is now beginning a series of Haydn symphonies, of which this set comprises volumes one and two. Cantilena's 16 players offer elegant performances (on modern instruments, by the way). One could imagine more energetic accounts of some of the Allegros, and more could be made of the music's drama and sudden contrasts (the first movement of no. 24 hardly sounds ''phrenzied," and the opening the ''Philosopher'' could be slower and graver); but these graceful readings, beautifully recorded, should give great pleasure to anyone interested in exploring earlier Haydn, which everyone should do!

Everything was fair game for Haydn's symphonic treatment: folk tunes and folk-like tunes; plainchant; unusual combinations of instruments; sudden alternations of loud and soft, calm and agitated music. This is nowhere seen more clearly than in the symphonies he wrote for his crack band of Esterhazy musicians: a body of music which seems to leave no musical device, effect, emotion, or sonority untried, and of which we are given a generous sampling in this two-record set of "middle-period" symphonies dating between 1764 and 1771.

What's in a nickname? Plenty, for a piece of music. It's no secret that the most familiar Haydn symphonies are those with nicknames, given not by Haydn but by his publishers. Often musical nicknames have nothing to do with the music at hand (witness the "Moonlight" Sonata or the "Jupiter" Symphony).

In the case of the best-known symphony here, "The Philosopher," however, the grave and profound character of the opening Adagio seems to merit the nickname. The "philosophical" quality is also enhanced by one of Haydn's typically daring choices of instrumental color: the use of two English horns rather than the customary two oboes of the classical orchestra. But then, all these middle-period symphonies are full of virtuoso writing for the principal players of what must have been a remarkable little band.

The current set also puts the lie to the stereotype that Haydn's music is rarely profound or expressive of deep emotion. His contemporaries knew better. His 12 "London" Symphonies stirred British audiences profoundly;

one critic even called Haydn "the Shakespeare of Music.'' Much earlier an equally perspicacious English critic praised Symphony no. 24 for its ''phrenzy and fire." Indeed, the first movement of no. 24, and Allegro movements in the ''Philosopher," ''Passion,'' and ''Mercury'' Symphonies recorded here, comprise febrile, agitated music quite at odds with the bland image of ''Papa Haydn.''

The Scottish chamber orchestra Cantilena has made several highly regarded recordings of baroque and early classical repertoire, and is now beginning a series of Haydn symphonies, of which this set comprises volumes one and two. Cantilena's 16 players offer elegant performances (on modern instruments, by the way). One could imagine more energetic accounts of some of the Allegros, and more could be made of the music's drama and sudden contrasts (the first movement of no. 24 hardly sounds ''phrenzied," and the opening the ''Philosopher'' could be slower and graver); but these graceful readings, beautifully recorded, should give great pleasure to anyone interested in exploring earlier Haydn, which everyone should do!