Haydn and his English friends [CD]

When Haydn visited London in the 1790s his reputation preceded him. Indeed, he was already a celebrity among the English musical cognoscenti of the day, many of whom penned their own tributes to the visiting maestro. As part of Hyperion's long-running and treasurable English Orpheus series, Peter Holman has assembled a selection of such contemporary English pieces alongside Haydn's six English psalm settings, composed in 1794 for the Rev William Tattersall's Improved Psalmody, the aim being to illustrate "Haydn's profound influence on English music". The result is a jewel of a disc, a cross-section of "plain and simple" English church music adorned with all the galant art of Haydn and his admirers. The six Haydn settings are justifiably the album's centrepiece, his graceful touch enhancing their elegant simplicity, but just as remarkable is John Stafford Smith's Horrible is the end of th' unrighteous generation, an extended anthem for pairs of soloists and chorus, arranged for string quartet by Holman from Smith's original plain organ accompaniment. The other selected composers represent all facets of English musical society, from the great musicologist Charles Burney, one of Haydn's earliest English champions, whose hymn "Tell us, O women" is a jolly gallant piece, to the dilettante stocking manufacturer William Gardiner of Leicester who arranged Haydn's "Emperor's Hymn" into an anthem, and is also reputed to have sent the composer six pairs of stockings embroidered with themes from his music. The choral forces of Psalmody, accompanied by a chamber ensemble of the Parley of Instruments, perform this unassuming, unfailingly charming music with all the elegance and grace it requires. For anyone who takes delight in psalm-singing or the byways of 18th-century English music, this disc will be an unmitigated pleasure. --Mark Walker

'A fascinating collection … wonderfully atmospheric' --Gramophone

'Music both major and relatively elementary, but all of it has charm' --Fanfare

'An issue of great historical interest …Performances (lovely solo and choral singing) are excellent: so is Peter Holman's scholarship' --Musicweb

'Music both major and relatively elementary, but all of it has charm' --Fanfare

'An issue of great historical interest …Performances (lovely solo and choral singing) are excellent: so is Peter Holman's scholarship' --Musicweb

Much of the music which Haydn wrote for his two visits to London in 1791/92 and 1794/95 is extremely well known today. The twelve 'London' symphonies are at the core of the orchestral repertory, and the string quartets Opp. 71 and 74 occupy a similar position in the chamber-music repertory. Yet there is one group of London works that is still virtually unknown: the six English psalm settings Haydn wrote in 1794 for Improved Psalmody, a collection of parish church music published shortly after by the Rev William Dechair Tattershall (1752-1829). This recording brings together the first recording of Haydn's English psalms with music by his circle of friends and admirers in England; it throws unexpected light on Haydn's profound influence on English music.