Okay. I’ll admit it. One of the reasons why I like initiating these projects is because I love the solitude of being up, out, and about before anyone else is.

In other words, I’m a morning person.

Which would be great if my wife wasn’t a night person. (Actually, she’s neither. She’d rather sleep at both ends of the day.)

So, my semi-nocturnal projects are perfect in that they get me out in my pre-dawn element, while allowing my wife to continue snoozing to her heart’s content.

Today’s symphonies were marvelous. Not up to Paris Symphonies levels. Those six were exquisite. But mighty fine works of art in their own right.

Symphony No. 88 in G was composed in 1787. Haydn was 55. Mid fifties!
According to its entry on Wiki,

It is occasionally referred to as The Letter V referring to an older method of cataloguing Haydn’s symphonic output.

The symphony was completed in 1787. It is one of Haydn’s best-known works, even though it is not one of the Paris or London Symphonies and does not have a descriptive nickname.

Symphony No. 89 in F was also composed in 1787. According to its entry on Wiki,

It is sometimes referred to as The Letter W referring to an older method of cataloging Haydn’s symphonic output. The second and fourth movements of this symphony are based on movements of a Concerto for Lire Organizzata in F, Hob. VIIh/5 that Haydn composed in 1786, two years before this work, for Ferdinand IV, King of Naples. To accommodate other orchestras, Haydn had arranged all of his Lire Concertos to be played with flute and oboe as the solo instruments instead of the two lire. Similar substitutions were made adapting the movements into a symphonic form, giving this work a decidedly windband flavor.

Symphony No. 90 in C, according to its entry on Wiki, was composed in

1788 as part of a three-symphony commission by Comte d’Ogny for the Concerts de la Loge Olympique. It is occasionally referred to as The Letter R — referring to an older method of cataloguing Haydn’s symphonic output.

So, Haydn was 56 when he composed No. 90. That’s getting up there in years, especially for that century.

Haydn composed some 108 symphonies. Today’s listening brings me up to No. 90. That means he has 18 to go in his life, not many more CDs for me to hear. Then I switch to another exploration of Haydn’s musical career. (There are 150 CDs in the Brilliant Classics Haydn Collection. I’m on CD 27. You do the math.)