‘Slender pieces of modest charm’ is how Richard Wigmore describes the violin concertos in his indispensable Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn – the G major (No 4) ‘slenderest of all’. It’s thought to date from the composer’s years with Count Morzin, which places it chronologically alongside the very earliest symphonies, and is perhaps the least technically challenging of the three surviving violin concertos. All the same, its modest charm can be sweetly engaging. Ryo Terakado – Bolivian-born Japanese leader of a number of major period-instrument ensembles – is a pleasing enough soloist with the Pearls in Baroque Chamber Orchestra (about whom the booklet is silent), augmenting his plain line with embellishments, octave displacements and his own cadenzas. Noriko Amano’s harpsichord is a prominent contributor to the sound picture, with the microphones held back to lend a generous resonance to the sound of the band of single strings as recorded in a Haarlem church. The overall impression, though, is of caution when compared with other invariably livelier recordings: Giuliano Carmignola, Simon Standage or Elizabeth Wallfisch, for example, all with their harpsichordist integrated more intimately within the orchestral sound, or Midori Seiler without harpsichord.

The rarity here, though – and perhaps the album’s main attraction – is a concerto for viola and harpsichord by the younger Haydn, Johann Michael. This likely dates from around the same time but Michael’s musical language included a stronger strain of singing lyricism than his big brother would regularly admit until some years later. It is an expansive work – more than half an hour long, in comparison to the violin concerto’s 20 minutes or so – and maintains interest over its span not only through the interplay of the two soloists but also via Haydn’s harmonic imagination, underpinning his melodic gift. Joseph’s well-known work may not be a contender in this recording but Terakado and Amano set the standard in Michael’s double concerto.