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. The E-flat-major Symphony no. 103 was composed in 1795 as the penultimate of the London Symphonies.

It owes its epithet to its unique beginning; a solo drumroll in the timpani ushers in the slow introduction. This op...