“I’ll put it simply: this disc is an awful lot of fun. The lira organizzata is a cousin of the hurdy-gurdy with a piping sonority that’s straight out of the circus funhouse. The baryton is a deep, rich-sounding instrument with two sets of strings stacked one on top of the other. Haydn wrote pieces for these long-forgotten instruments while in the service of Prince Esterhazy. While the unique instrumentation will draw in the curious, the music itself is also very well-written: vintage Haydn, with a great sense of humor. The performances and recording quality are simply first-rate, with a luscious full-emsemble sound brilliantly captured by the engineers. 75 minutes of great music and great performances that blow the dust off a pair of obscure footnotes in the history of instrumental music. What more could you want?” -H&B H&B recordings hbdirect.com