Masters of Classical Music - Joseph Haydn - Symphony No. 94

The series Masters of Classical Music allows the listener to experience and enjoy great music from the Baroque period up to the present day in an entirely new way, offering a combination of documentary material and a complete performance of the featured work. This episode includes a live-recording of Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 from the Hagia Eirene in Instanbul with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Mariss Jansons. Well-known musicologist and pianist Robert Levin discusses Haydn’s life and the circumstances surrounding the composition of the ‘Surprise’ Symphony. His analysis of each movement in turn, drawing out the wit and warm humor of the work through plentiful musical examples, helps to bring this beloved masterpiece vividly to life.