From the archives

n the age of the LP, Georg Solti – along with Karajan in Berlin and Bernstein in New York City – played a huge part in the Mahler revival. And in big-band Haydn, as reminds us () – all 12 Haydn London Symphonies with the London Philharmonic Orchestra from the 1980s, with 101-103 duplicated from mono recordings. The Symphony is from the earliest sessions in the set, when Solti in 1949 met the Decca team that partnered him in so many recordings; it’s straight, no-nonsense Haydn. There’s more fizz and energy in the later sessions. That famous Solti drive renders the Mozart Piano Concertos with Alicia de Larrocha rather charmless; neither this nor the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Mischa Elman feels like a meeting of musical minds. On the other hand, the Suppé and Rossini overtures and Offenbach’s make a thrilling introduction to the fast-driven fun of Solti’s style and sound.