That the symphony may claim to have become the most important form of orchestral composition owes a great deal to Haydn’s refinement of the genre over a period of almost 40 years. His first such works were composed at the age of 25, while his last symphonies for London were written in the final decade of the eighteenth century. The four rarely performed symphonies included in this recording date from an early period of Haydn’s career, around the first years of his employment with the Esterházy family. They show Haydn experimenting with a newly developing form.