A contemporary of Haydn, Karl Kohaut was a string player and Viennese court civil servant. He was in Paris when Mozart made his first visit there in 1764. Though he took part, along with Haydn and Mozart, in Baron van Swieten’s Sunday academies, he would hardly have described himself as “Haydn’s lute player”, as the CD advertises. Nevertheless, that he was a lutenist of some skill is evident from the passagework in the Divertimento primo and Lute Concerto.

The presence of the first item on the disc, a trio attributed to Haydn, which Gunar Letzbor believes might well be by Kohaut, somewhat queers the pitch. Foursquare, with a bit of drama interjected in the minor section, the first movement doesn’t sound for a moment like Haydn (did he ever write for the lute?). That the Trio, with its meandering cantabile and jolly finale, charms the listener should be put down to the artful performance it receives.

The remainder of the disc is echt Kohaut. The Divertimento offers a series of appealing dialogues between the violins and the lute, performed here with flashes of wit and deft phrasing. The string Sinfonia opens with a first movement in six sections, of which the Fuga stands out as much the best music. The finale both harks back to the Italian Baroque and indulges in more up-to-date Sturm und Drang. Of the two concertos here, that for lute fares best, though in the first movement Hoffmann’s penchant for rubato disconcerts. Both concertos suffer from the Viennese practice of employing a double bass (in lieu of a cello) as the “basso” because it doesn’t blend sufficiently with the violins to contrast or offer a foil for the soloist. This may be what they did in the 18th century – but one wonders why.