Although the four symphonies included on this recording date from early in Haydn’s career and from the beginnings of the classical symphony, he was already a mature musician who had entered the service of the Esterházy family as Vize-Kapellmeister and approached each new attempt at writing a symphony as an experiment in form and scoring. Symphony No. 9, more an overture than a symphony in form, concludes with a Minuet and Trio, Symphonies Nos. 10 and 12 dispense with the customary minuet, while Symphony No. 11, written in the older style of a sonata da chiesa, opens with an Adagio cantabile scored for horns, strings and continuo.