Haydn: Paris Symphonies, Nos. 82-87 (The Royal Edition No. 33)

Leonard Bernstein was simply one of the great Haydn conductors of all time. Not only did he characterize Haydn's music vividly and get his orchestras to play it well, he took the trouble to study period performance and teach his musicians things like how to play Haydn's trills correctly. Lacking period instruments, this is as authentic a set of Haydn performances as you could want to hear. Every one of these wonderful Paris Symphonies emerges as an individual work of great qualities. The recordings have been lovingly remastered and surpass more recent Haydn recordings sonically as well as musically. --Leslie Gerber