Steven Isserlis plays Haydn | Philharmonia Orchestra

Bach, Haydn and Mozart – 21st-century listeners still can’t get enough of these three 18th century greats.

Steven Isserlis is a consummate musician with an open-hearted delight in the music he performs – if he could meet Joseph Haydn they would no doubt find they had a lot in common. He is one of today’s leading interpreters of Haydn’s brilliant Cello Concerto No 1, rediscovered in a Prague museum in 1961, 200 years after it was written. In Isserlis’s own words, this is “the greatest Classical cello concerto. It’s full of joy, of joyous virtuosity. It’s perfect.”

Oboes and bassoon play a starring role in this evening’s opening piece. Bach’s suite begins with a regal overture, heralding a series of courtly dances, and ending with a lively movement entitled ‘Réjouissance’ (rejoicing). And a pair of clarinets have their moment of glory in Mozart’s Symphony No 39, in the third movement Ländler (an Austrian folk dance in triple time). Phillipe Herreweghe, a revered expert in the music of the Baroque and Classical periods, is our guide through this captivating programme.