Mi Bestia

Most composers couldn't fill 20 CDs with all their works; it takes that many just to house the operas of one of the most prolific composers in classical music. These late-'70s recordings (featuring the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne under the direction of Antal Dorati) were groundbreaking at the time and remain cherished documents of some of Haydn's lesser-known works. You'll hear Armida (featuring Jessye Norman); La Fedelta Premiata ( Fidelity Rewarded ); Orlando Paladino ( Orlando the Paladin ); La Vera Costanza ( True Constancy , also with Norman); L'Incontro Improvviso ( The Unforeseen Encounter ); L'Infedelta Delusa ( Infidelity Outwitted ); L'Insola Disabitata ( The Desert Island ), and Il Mondo Della Luna (The World on the Moon ) plus additional arias

Joseph Haydn the composer of symphonies, string quartets, piano trios, piano sonatas, and a plethora of other instrumental works was also Joseph Haydn the composer, director, and producer of operas. His employer, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, greatly enjoyed opera, and for nearly 20 years Haydn's full-time job was running the theater at Esterháza, the Prince's pleasure palace in Hungary. In the first decade, Haydn wrote 10 operas for his company, the most successful of which ran for 20 performances. In tone, they range from the comic to the semi-serious to the wholly serious, and in quality, they range between the operas of Gluck and Mozart.

The Overture gives the clue: this is the Barber of the nudge and the wink, of the Neapolitan siesta rubato and the rumbustious business. Silvio Varviso, who works his willing orchestra hard enough, tends to operate by exaggerated contrasts of tempo rather than by pointing within the phrasing itself: the cast, similarly, work the comic value of the words rather than the wit of their underlay or inflection.