Though English piano virtuoso Howard Shelley has also lifted the baton on occasion, his work as a conductor has been mostly with the lesser lights of the high classical and early romantic periods: Hummel, Spohr, Reinecke, and their ilk. This four-disc set of Haydn's London Symphonies with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, however, gives Shelley a shot at one of the peaks of the high classical period. And while Shelley certainly doesn't challenge any of the heaviest of the heavy hitters in this repertoire -- Beecham, ...
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Though English piano virtuoso Howard Shelley has also lifted the baton on occasion, his work as a conductor has been mostly with the lesser lights of the high classical and early romantic periods: Hummel, Spohr, Reinecke, and their ilk. This four-disc set of Haydn's London Symphonies with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, however, gives Shelley a shot at one of the peaks of the high classical period. And while Shelley certainly doesn't challenge any of the heaviest of the heavy hitters in this repertoire -- Beecham, Klemperer, and Szell's sets are still the ones to beat -- he does turn in entirely lovely and deeply musical performances. Shelley brings plenty of wit to his interpretations, along with strength, tenderness, and a wonderful sense of energy and elation. The Italian-Swiss orchestra doesn't have the Royal Philharmonic's polish, the Philharmonia's power, or the Cleveland's precision, but it still has sufficient polish, power, and precision to bring off these standard repertoire works....
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