English pianist Sarah Beth Briggs, together with Kenneth Woods conducting the Royal Northern Sinfonia, offers the world premiere recording of Hans Gál's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra alongside Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat, K. 482.

There was no instant click between Richard Wagner and his future opera hero Lohengrin. Having come across the Lohengrin poem amongst the medieval source material for his opera Tannhäuser, he then laid it aside, considering it to be too mystical. But the figure of Lohengrin would not let him go, and he gradually came to see in the mysterious Grail Knight the very essence of a ‘deeply human longing for unconditional love’. Finally, at the spa town of Marienbad during the summer holiday of 1845, inspiration struck: ‘Lohengrin… stood suddenly revealed before me in full armour at the centre of a comprehensive dramatic adaptation of the whole material.’ In no time at all, he had put down on paper a prose sketch of a libretto. …

Founded in the late '80s just before the collapse of the Iron Curtain by Hungarian conductor Adam Fischer, the Österreichisch-Ungarische Philharmonie (aka, the Austro-Hungarian Philharmonic) had already recorded the complete symphonies of Franz Josef Haydn for the English Nimbus label in the '90s when it returned to selected symphonies for the German Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm label in the 2000s.

How much Haydn is enough Haydn? Now that all the symphonies have been recorded several times, now that period-instrument and modern-instrument performances are available, and now that original versions, published versions, and variant versions have all been documented, is there really a need for more Haydn recordings? More specifically, is there really a need for a second series of recordings of Haydn's symphonies with Adam Fischer leading the Österreichisch-Ungarische Haydn-Philharmonie (aka the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic)? After all, they had already recorded all of Haydn's symphonies label in the '90s for the English Nimbus in performances that were smart and stylish, and that set well with the composer's unique combination of high art, deep feeling, and good fun. If the performances are all as fine as this coupling of the Symphonies No. 97 and No. 102 with the Overture "L'anima del filosofo," the answer is yes.

One of the most striking features of the twelve symphonies that Haydn composed for London between 1791 and 1795 is the strong sense of rapport between the composer and the intended audience. It was a popularity that he nurtured so that the tastes and enthusiasm of his audience were gradually developed. – for Haydn, popularity went hand in hand with artistic integrity. The three symphonies recorded here were all premiered in different seasons and reveal these qualities to the full.