The twelve “London Symphonies” comprise the sublime final statement of Haydn’s symphonic œuvre. They were written for the London impresario Johann Peter Salomon, and Haydn himself conducted their premieres during his lengthy stays in the English metropolis in 1791/92 and 1794/95. Hailing from 1791, the Symphony in D major no. 96 numbers among the first symphonies written in and for London.

The epithet given to it by posterity, “The Miracle”, was bestowed erroneously, for the miracle – that n...