Publisher, Naxos Audiobooks (October 2003)

Each CD includes a CD-ROM segment containing the complete spoken text and booklet material with interactive features and links to the Internet. These CDs may be used in conventional CD players or as enhanced CDs on Windows (TM) PCs, MacIntoshes (TM) or any computer with a Web browser capable of reading CD-ROMS.

"Terrific idea, this, and very well done. The format is to weave a selection of each composer's musical output around the narrated story of their lives, colored by contemporary articles and writings read by actors... the actors breathe life into the contemporary material to make for a rewarding and entertaining disc." --Classic FM

This innovative series presents the life and work of major composers in a narrated biography. The recording is illustrated with quotations from the composer and his contemporaries, enhanced by numerous extracts from representative works. In the comprehensive companion booklet are essays and notes on the composer and his times.

No great composer's story is more predominantly happy than Haydn's, though even his has its share of clouds. A classic rags-to-riches tale, it sees him move from humble beginnings through decades as a liveried servant to his emergence as the most popular and successful composer of his time. One of the healthiest and least neurotic artists in musical history, he did more than any other single figure to pioneer the symphony, the piano sonata and the string quartet - and he was the first truly great practitioner of each. Brilliant, strikingly original and blessed not only with genius but an infectious sense of humour, he was also profound and modest, and his music, copiously illustrated here, has brought happiness and illumination to millions.