Album: Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Haydn: The Complete Symphonies (Sony Classical)

Even allowing for the much shorter duration of symphonies in Haydn's day – his Symphony No. 2 is at 10 minutes a model of elegant brevity – his output of over 100 symphonies, compiled here across 37 CDs, was a colossal undertaking which established the key elements of future symphonic composition. Recorded over the past 11 years, this complete edition by the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester under the baton of Dennis Russell Davies is of equivalent standard to Haydn's achievement, a remarkable body of work in which it's possible to get happily lost for days.

Download this: Symphony No. 88 in G major; Symphony No. 94 in G major; Symphony No. 101 in D major