I’ve been listening to a symphony that I would describe as an almost perfect masterpiece by a composer of towering importance. But until last month I’d never heard it. Most music-lovers would struggle to identify the piece; most orchestras have never performed it and have no plans to do so.

We can only be talking about a symphony by Joseph Haydn. He wrote 104 of them, plus two or three others that didn’t make it into the catalogue. For that reason alone there aren’t going to be many opportunities to hear the less popular ones. Which raises the question: what makes a Haydn symphony popular?

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The short answer is: a nickname. That’s not surprising. The Farewell, the Hen, the Clock and the Military play tricks that invite affectionate titles. More significantly, they reveal a miraculous juxtaposition of melody and counterpoint unsurpassed by any composer in the history of music. But then so do dozens of other Haydn symphonies without nicknames.

Which brings me to No. 76 in E flat major. Where has this been all my life? Sitting under my nose in boxed sets that I’ve been too lazy to investigate properly. My excuse, not a........

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