Hyperion Records

Symphonies 22 to 24 can be dated accurately from surviving manuscripts, but Symphony No 25 is not so fortunate. It is presumed to date from any time between 1761 and 1765. It is a bit of a hybrid, having a slow introduction to the Allegro that is too brief to be a church sonata opening movement, yet it subsequently has no further slow movement. The Allegro’s thematic writing suggests a date earlier than the aforementioned symphonies, though this may be more Haydn’s response to the key of C major, which was often associated with the more restrictive melodic capabilities of eighteenth-century brass (though he did not introduce trumpets and drums to this work, as he did in some other C major symphonies). Yet there is plenty of melodic variety in the minuet and hectic Presto Finale.

from notes by Matthew Rye © 1994