After being immensely impressed by Handel's Messiah (a shock which made him claim Handel to be the greatest composer ever), Haydn was inspired to set foot on the field of oratorio writing which resulted in two of his masterpieces: 'The Creation' and then 'The Seasons'. The latter is presented here in a fabulous recording supervised by Colin Davis, a true specialist when it comes to performing large-scale works for voices, choir and orchestra and especially those of the classical period.

The work is full of charming and joyful arias, duets, trios, choir parts and instrumental segments which make the piece a varied journey through the year, full of catchy melodic arias and ingeniously well-caught dramatic effects giving perfectly appropriate splendour to each season.

The soloists are Heather Harper, Ryland Davies and John Shirley-Quirk, all specialists in the genre. Together with the BBC Chorus and Symphony Orchestra they've managed to record a magnificent performance under the supervision of Colin Davis.

For the new work Haydn took his inspiration from the British poet James Thomson, whose Seasons had been published in 1730. He did not in fact produce a translation, rather he used ideas in the poem to help construct a text of his own with three invented characters, whose parts are taken by the soloists: a farmer named Simon, his daughter Jane and her suitor Lucas.

The oratorio is divided into four parts, each with its customary subdivisions of recitative, aria, ensemble and chorus. A new feature of the score is Haydn's occasional division of his choir into separate women's and men's choruses, while each part begins with a descriptive orchestral piece.