What does Haydn tell us today? Honestly: almost nothing at all. And that is what it is going to be all about. At least most of the assembled remixers have never before dealt with Joseph Haydn in artistic interpretations. However, and this is what counts, all of them wanted to engage with his work. And, of course, they knew the grandfather of the First Viennese School. At least by name. In the world of contemporary electronic music, classical music is a foreign object. Yes, ambitious projects do exist. Just in 2008 the Detroit techno-grandmaster Carl Craig and the founder of the Basic Channel label Moritz von Oswald dealt with Ravel and Mussorgsky and attracted great interest. Francesco Tristano presented his mix of "serious" and "electronic" on the label infiné. The Gas-Project of Kompaktboss Wolfgang Voigt was re-released. At the end of the 90s he stretched Wagner and, well-grounded in ambient music, approached faux-Germanic sound patterns. Steve Reich and Minimal Music were much sought after by electronic musicians, and the represented Patrick Pulsinger adapted Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake". However, all of these were singular efforts. The majority of electronic music takes place in the popular club-scene. Now these individual efforts are getting much more attention from the music-critic elite – because after all such projects sustain the myth that classical music is still relevant to the youth.

However, in reality, the audience of classical concerts ages six months for every year on the average, and has already significantly gone beyond fifty years of age. In this respect, old class-fighting slogans about serious and light music have lost their relevance as a result of demographic developments, and the stench of the hermetic educated elite has largely disappeared. Such developments make room for a contemporary re-interpretation of Haydn that is not only differentiated but also deliberately uncouth. For instance, in order to continue using the composer's music just as some arbitrarily processible sound or like a foreign object – as a reminder to point to another epoch sharply contrasting current means of music production. Nevertheless, - and this is what is most surprising and shows unimagined potential – many of the assembled remixers are classically trained. Hence they are aware of the enormous legacy of the diatonic function theory for their – respectively our – era. Others were interested in the project for personal reasons, while some were just plain curious. Strikingly diverse paths were struck in processing the original material.

The spectrum stretches from cautious transformation and re-exposing the original recordings (Electric Indigo, bonus track on the special edition) to a reduction to particles of the original melodies (Ogris Debris). The most common path to the goal led via sampling, without the otherwise conventionally used single-tracks. A pre-selection of Joseph Haydn's extensive material was made by the classic music editor of the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, Wilhelm Sinkovicz, with the intention to capture the whole depth and diversity of genres of Haydn's work.

The majority of the participants were immediately interested in the project; others showed rather hesitant reactions or were struggling with the material. However, in each case Re:Haydn opens a wide range of possibilities of how to treat Haydn's music nowadays. On the occasion of the official Haydn year, this project makes dancing around the tomb of the epochal composer possible and savours his music with the necessary irreverence.