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01/04/2008
New European Chamber Orchestra Makes Its Debut On Landor Records

Landor Records has signed a new chamber orchestra which contains instrumentalists hand-picked from all over Europe.

The debut release by Sinfonia Classica, on Monday 12th May, is a programme of Haydn’s symphonies and divertimenti that admirably showcases the orchestra’s finely attuned sense of ensemble and anticipates the 200th anniversary of Haydn’s death in 2009.

Among the repertoire on the disc are two of Haydn’s greatest symphonies: the heart-rending Symphony no.49 ‘La Passione’, one of the finest examples of Haydn’s Sturm und Drang period, and no.22 ‘The Philosopher’, often thought to be named after the piece's use of a tick-tock effect evoking the image of a philosopher deep in thought while time passes.

Two divertimenti complete the programme. One of these, Divertimento in A, Hob.X.10, has rarely been heard by modern ears and features a fiendishly difficult horn part, expertly played here by Mark Paine.

“We are very excited to be collaborating with a new orchestra of this calibre”, says Guy Harvey, chief executive of Landor Records.

“Sinfonia Classica worked recently with the Czech pianist Libor Novacek, another of our artists, and we hope that this will be the first of many collaborations with this gifted ensemble.”

The orchestra gave its first concerts in 2003 and now appears regularly with artists including Freddy Kempf, Emma Johnson and Natalie Clein. It is led on this recording by the German violinist Gernot Süssmuth, a former member of the celebrated Peterson Quartet and leader of the Berliner Staatskapelle orchestra.

Haydn Symphonies & Divertimenti is released on Monday, 12th May 2008.