The piano is a Broadwood from 1816, the two sonatas works composed during Haydn’s visits to London for such an instrument. Rebecca Maurer justifies the use of an example from more than 20 years after Haydn left by the fact that English piano-building did not advance during the intervening period to the same extent as in Vienna.

Nevertheless, this is the sort of instrument for which the virtuoso pianist-composers of the time, such as Dussek and Cramer, were creating. Such ‘public’ music thrives on the Broadwood, with its power and resonance, and its ready responsiveness to the symphonic writing employed by Haydn. The anarchic wonkiness of the harmony and phrase-lengths in the finale of No 50 in C comes over cheekily, and the ‘open pedal’ passages in the opening movement are given an otherworldly sound, ringing with a clarity that is not available from the thicker bass notes of a modern piano. The more ample, richer layout of No 52 in E flat, too, sounds well, the contrast of the mellower tonic with the brighter E major of the Adagio particularly telling.

The pianist, violinist and composer Thomas Haigh (1769-?1808) was born in Wakefield but became known as ‘Thomas Haigh of Manchester’ and studied with Haydn in London. He capitalised on the popularity of Haydn’s canzonettas by presenting them ‘Arranged as Rondos for the Piano Forte’ shortly after Haydn returned to Vienna for the last time. His Fantaisie on the Emperor’s Hymn is introduced by a tremolando transcription of the opening of the Drumroll Symphony and closes with an extended riff on the finale of Symphony No 65, while a charming sonata of his own – dedicated to Haydn – bases its second-movement Allegretto on ‘a celebrated air’ by Bonifazio Asioli.

Christian Ignatius Latrobe (1758-1836) was also a Haydn acolyte, born in Leeds but educated in Moravia. Apparently not a professional musician, he nevertheless composed avidly and was on friendly terms with Haydn, to whom he dedicated his Op 3, from which a sole slow movement is played here – and it’s over all too quickly. The two Haydn sonatas are undeniably great music, while the accompanying works provide fascinating context for the reception of his music in late 18th-century London. All are faultlessly played on a fine instrument.