With this symphony I’ve reached the end of the first grouping of Haydn’s earliest symphonies, as laid out by Academy of Ancient Music in the notes to their complete recordings. Haydn composed these symphonies around 1757 to 1760 while he was the court composer for a Bohemian aristocrat named Count Morzin.

Symphony No. 107 has a much higher number than the others up to this point (which have ranged from 1 to 37) — this is because it was originally classified as a string quartet and not renumbered as a symphony until after the other numbers had already been solidified.

Haydn

The first movement (‘Allegro’) is strong on horns and dramatic chord progressions, and there’s a striking, almost film-soundtrack-like climax that arrives at 2:15 and 3:50. This all kept me interested for the duration of the movement, but it wasn’t particularly charming or interesting.

“Dull, classical elevator music” is all I have to say about the second movement (‘Andante’ but mislabeled as ‘Allegro’ on Apple Music and YouTube).

This symphony wakes back up for the third movement (‘Allegro molto’ but mislabeled as ‘Andante’ on Apple Music and YouTube). Strings are constantly swirling with energy, horns are chiming in, everything’s generally firing on all cylinders. But it wasn’t very strong on melody and didn’t leave me with much to remember when it was over, aside from its sheer energy.

I rate this symphony 2.5 stars out of 5. It kept me actively listening for most of its duration, but it didn’t truly capture my interest. A couple lines from these symphonies have actually gotten stuck in my head along the way, but I don’t think anything here will be doing that.

Version listened to: Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood
Length: 14:22
Next up: Symphony No. 3. It’s the first in the next batch of symphonies set forth by Academy of Ancient Music. These next ones are of uncertain origin, being made either for Count Morzin or the Hungarian nobles that Haydn composed for next.