Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The prolific and popular Franz Joseph Haydn was born in 1732 and died in 1809. Hence, 200 years later, this commemorative collection of three of his oratorios. All three have been reviewed by this reviewer and all three reviews are available on this website so I shall not repeat myself too much this time around. Even to list all the performers would fill my allotted space so I shall content myself with a brief synopsis. 'Il Ritorno Di Tobia' was Haydn's first oratorio and is a setting of the Apocryphal story of how young Tobit went to seek his fortune with the help of an undercover angel and eventually returned home a wealthier man than when he left. 'The Creation' (1796-8) and 'The Seasons' (1799-1801) are the two pieces that have secured Haydn's place in the history of Western music. The three performances on offer in this seven CD box are all adequate or better and as separate discs all would be worthy additions to any collection. However when I point out that you can buy almost seven hours of beautiful music for under £30, debates about the relative merits of different recordings are put into perspective. I have four different recordings of 'The Creation' in my collection and two of 'The Seasons'. All have strong points and all have relative weaknesses but, at this price, the Naxos collection is by far the best value.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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