Hyperion proudly presents the Complete Haydn String Quartets on period instruments in one 20-CD box. These acclaimed performances from The London Haydn Quartet combine historically-informed performance practice with performing editions published during Haydn’s own lifetime. The release celebrates the 25th anniversary of the formation of The London Haydn Quartet.

Inside, the 10x double-CD sets are presented in strikingly handsome double wallets throughout, each featuring opulent paintings by Samuel Scott on front and back. Each wallet offers a track listing, with many presenting facsimiles of the original scores and frontispieces.

The 52-page booklet brings together all the individual album booklet essays by Richard Wigmore, from the first release (2007) to the last (2023).

Haydn is revered as the father of the string quartet. In number, scope and imagination, Haydn’s quartets define the genre. Even Mozart dedicated six of his own string quartets to Papa Haydn. The set begins with Haydn’s Opus 9 quartets, widely considered – including by the composer himself – as the start of his development of this new genre.

‘No one who loves this glorious music could have hoped for a better finish … the more I returned to these performances, the more I found myself warming to their fantasy, their disciplined spontaneity and their cumulative insights’ – Gramophone