Lieben Sie Haydn

«The incomparable Haydn produced an Overture of which it is impossible to speak in common terms. It is one of the grandest efforts of art that we ever witnessed. It abounds with ideas, as new in music as they are grand and impressive; it rouses and affects every emotion of the soul. It was received with rapturous applause.» From such elegiac lines, the readers of the Morning Chronicle on 11 February 1794 learned of the premiere of Joseph Haydn’s latest «Overture» – in fact the Symphony in E flat major Hob. I:99 – with which the composer had triumphantly opened his second concert series in London. Like Yutaka Sado before him, Music Director Fabien Gabel knows that without Haydn there would be no Viennese Classicism and therefore no foundation for the Tonkunstler’s performance tradition. Together with Albert Hosp, the orchestra makes it possible to experience what makes Haydn so great, his humour and his depth of feeling.