A certain amount of mystery still clouds the history of Haydn’s earliest symphonies. Autograph manuscripts are few and far between, and contemporary records are scarce. Moreover, the accepted numbering contrived by Eusebius Mandyczewski in 1907 attempted to assign works that were difficult to date with any accuracy to their latest possible year of composition, causing further confusion. The five symphonies on this disc, for example, are more likely to have been composed in an order closer to 18, 19, 20, 17 and 21, over a period possibly as wide as seven years and with a fair number of other symphonies interspersed among them. As a result, these few symphonies provide a fascinating résumé of Haydn’s early work in the field, from some of his earliest works to the burgeoning inspiration of his Esterháza compositions.