NCH, Dublin: The Haydn bicentenary celebrations have yielded few all-Haydn programmes. The Belfast Festival at Queen's is at the front of the field, with five all-Haydn offerings, four of them involving fortepiano performances by Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam. Oratorios aside, Dublin looks like having just two all-Haydn programmes, this concert from the Orchestra of St Cecilia (OSC) and the second from the RTÉ NSO on Friday, December 11th.

The OSC offered two nicknamed symphonies:

Philosopher

is loved for its unusual, haunting coloration of pairs of cors anglais and French horns, while

Farewell

, introduced by conductor Proinnsías Ó Duinn with an amusing connection to Tuesday’s strike, is famous for its theatrical exits. The players gradually vacate the stage, leaving the last word to two muted violins playing in near-darkness – the gesture was a hint to Haydn’s patron that his musicians wanted to go home to their families from the remoteness of the splendid “Hungarian Versailles” built by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy.

Farewell

is an almost indestructible masterpiece, a sequence of storminess, limpidity and quirkiness even before the finale breaks off its hectic dash for the calm that prepares for the departures. It’s not unique, as Ó Duinn claimed, in its unusual key of F sharp minor – there are other examples by Mahler, Rimsky-Korsakov, Miaskovsky and Barber.

The brilliance of the Trumpet Concerto is as effective in its own way as the symphony, with soloist Crispian Steele-Perkins delivering it in a tone that was clear and penetrating without being domineering.

But it was the first half of the evening that offered the greater rewards. The playing of the OSC was more consistent. The contrasts between sturdy and snappy in the

Philosopher

Symphony worked well. And Guy Johnston was a romantically enthusiastic soloist in the frequently dashing Cello Concerto in C.