Haydn's String Quartets and the 20th century interpretation style

[DavidW]

Let us know what you think. I can't get enough of this set. The sound quality is top notch too.

Yes, I think Auryn Quartet is tops in a crowded field. It is a shame they never had a nice box set (individual issues are expensive)... but hey, streaming exists!

[Jo498]

I was not convinced by the Auryn's op.33 (admittedly I was not completely convinced by any of the 6 or so cplt op.33 I have heard and owned, the Auryn was good enough to keep); it's good but not great and in the best (or at least by far best represented on disc because it was often recorded an anthologies), op.33#3, they are rather disappointing. I later got their op.17 but I have listened/compared these sufficiently to have a strong opinion.

The best Haydn from the Auryn I have heard is the older recording (10 or more years before the complete set) of op.71 that is excellent and to me feels fresher than the 4 discs I have heard of the later cplt set.

(I was told from a reliable source that after 2009 there was a complete box of the Auryn Haydn sold locally at the Musikhochschule Detmold where they have a teaching position but I have never seen this offered anywhere.)

[Mandryka]

I was not convinced by the Auryn's op.33 (admittedly I was not completely convinced by any of the 6 or so cplt op.33 I have heard and owned, the Auryn was good enough to keep); it's good but not great and in the best (or at least by far best represented on disc because it was often recorded an anthologies), op.33#3, they are rather disappointing. I later got their op.17 but I have listened/compared these sufficiently to have a strong opinion.

The best Haydn from the Auryn I have heard is the older recording (10 or more years before the complete set) of op.71 that is excellent and to me feels fresher than the 4 discs I have heard of the later cplt set.

(I was told from a reliable source that after 2009 there was a complete box of the Auryn Haydn sold locally at the Musikhochschule Detmold where they have a teaching position but I have never seen this offered anywhere.)

Auryn/Tacet have made a decision not to re-issue that op 71 -- they have reissued the early Britten and Schubert but have let the Haydn hang out to dry.

[Jo498]

They re-recorded op.71 for the complete set, maybe they prefer (or the label wants to sell) their more recent version that I have not heard. It might be that they sold the rights as I have it on the "Accord" label (with a Tacet logo in the small print) but I think it was a limited licensing deal.

With streaming option most of this is moot but since the separate Auryn and Buchberger became available 15 years ago I would always have recommended getting opus numbers separately. There are some that are very well covered, e.g. op.20, 76, 77 (from sheer numbers of recordings 33 probably as well), others less, esp. op.1-17 where one can use Kodaly, Buchberger, Auryn, Leipzig for filling gaps.

[Florestan]

I think Kodaly are the only ones who recorded the spurious Op. 3 (as part of a complete set, that is).

[DavidW]

Auryn/Tacet have made a decision not to re-issue that op 71 -- they have reissued the early Britten and Schubert but have left the Haydn hang out to dry.

That is too bad, that earlier Op 71 is the best I've heard.

[Jo498]

I think Kodaly are the only ones who recorded the spurious Op. 3 (as part of a complete set, that is).

Yes, at least for the recentish ones. I think the Vox? LP sets with the Fine Arts Quartet? and several other ensembles in the 60s had an op.3 and the 1970s Aeolian had it as well; they might have cut it for the CD reissue.
Because of the mid-century popularity of the "Serenade" (cf the movie "Ladykillers") there are lots of (historical) recordings op.3/5: Pro Arte, Vegh, Janacek, Italiano...
It's a fun piece (I have the Kodaly for the others but #5 is the only one I know well) and whoever likes Haydn's opp.1+2 should give it a try.

[Florestan]

Yes, at least for the recentish ones. I think the Vox? LP sets with the Fine Arts Quartet? and several other ensembles in the 60s had an op.3 and the 1970s Aeolian had it as well; they might have cut it for the CD reissue.
Because of the mid-century popularity of the "Serenade" (cf the movie "Ladykillers") there are lots of (historical) recordings op.3/5: Pro Arte, Vegh, Janacek, Italiano...
It's a fun piece (I have the Kodaly for the others but #5 is the only one I know well) and whoever likes Haydn's opp.1+2 should give it a try.

I have the Aeolian CD set and listened to it in its entirety a few years ago but don't remember them playing Op. 3; my memory could very well be faulty, though, I will check asap.

Agreed, the Serenade Quartet is delicious, a paragon of Galant Style, yet not without a tinge of Empfindsamkeit melancholy. Whoever wrote it (Romanus Hoffstaetter in all probability) deserves a place in the history of the era just for this work alone.

I've heard it live a few years ago, played by the Voces Quartet (the veteran Romanian string quartet, now disbanded because of old age/death) in an all-Haydn recital attended by no more than 50 people (I and my wife included) in a hall sitting 800. They played the whole program as if their life depended on it and after prolonged standing ovations they told us that if we wanted they could play yet another recital right there and then because they always had the complete Haydn SQs partitions at hand. Needless to say, laughter ensued and then the applause ceased.   

[San Antone]

My favorite complete set of the Haydn string quartets is the Festetics on period instruments.

I've heard (and bought) a number of others, but only need this one - now.