Joseph Haydn, Isang Yun, Münchener Kammerorchester, Alexander Liebreich

Farewell sets two minor-key symphonies by Joseph Haydn, No. 39 in G minor and No. 45 in F sharp minor, the Farewell, beside the first Chamber Symphony of the Korean composer Isang Yun, written in 1987. Yun scored his piece for the same small orchestra Haydn used, two oboes, two horns and strings. Heard side by side, the 18th-century works and their late 20th-century counterpart throw light on each other.

It was the first recording of the Münchener Kammerorchester with Alexander Liebreich, who had succeeded Christoph Poppen as artistic director about eighteen months before its release, and the orchestra's eighth album for ECM. The ensemble is known for themed seasons and regular commissions. Liebreich came to Yun's music through tours of South and North Korea and a visiting professorship in Pyongyang, where he worked with the orchestra Yun had founded. The disc was recorded in May 2007 at the Himmelfahrtskirche in Munich-Sendling, produced by Manfred Eicher with Peter Laenger as engineer, and Paul Griffiths wrote the liner notes.

Symphony No. 39, from 1765, calls for four horns, and their brightness carries the outer movements. The Farewell of 1772 owes its name to the closing Adagio, in which the players leave one by one until only a few remain. Liebreich treats it as a long, quiet fade rather than a stage joke, ending on muted strings. Yun's Chamber Symphony I, nearly 25 minutes on a single track in three sections, the central one softer and closer to chamber music, keeps Haydn's instruments but bends them with sliding string and oboe lines and sudden whoops from the horns.

In Gramophone, Richard Whitehouse called the Yun "an abstract exploration of Haydn's sound world" and praised the clarity of the recording. Carl Rosman in International Record Review described "lithe performances on modern instruments, but certainly 'historically informed'", noting that the Yun had been composed for the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Dominy Clements of MusicWeb International singled out the long, unforced fade at the end of the Farewell. In the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Marco Frei heard Liebreich as a subtle Yun specialist and placed the orchestra among the leading chamber ensembles.

This is the CD edition, ECM New Series 2029, first released in February 2008. Griffiths's notes are printed in English and in German translation.