Haydn's Haus

[Brian]

Independently of whether I agree or not with Hurwitz regarding what he thinks and put on his videos, I do admit that his Haydn symphony traversal is becoming an important achievement on Youtube. I enjoy much of his content, albeit I disagree with many of his assessments.

I keep meaning to watch one or two of those, but the fact that there will eventually be 108 of them is intimidating 

[kyjo]

Independently of whether I agree or not with Hurwitz regarding what he thinks and put on his videos, I do admit that his Haydn symphony traversal is becoming an important achievement on Youtube. I enjoy much of his content, albeit I disagree with many of his assessments.

I agree; though the Naxos recordings that Hurwitz uses for samples don't seem to be showing these works in the most flattering light....

[Symphonic Addict]

I keep meaning to watch one or two of those, but the fact that there will eventually be 108 of them is intimidating 

Certainly, and I hope he'll make all of them.

The Scarlatti's sonatas journey doesn't seem as succesful at the Haydn, though

[Symphonic Addict]

I agree; though the Naxos recordings that Hurwitz uses for samples don't seem to be showing these works in the most flattering light....

I'm not sure if he can play excerpts from other labels regarding his symphonies. Maybe it has to do with it.

[Karl Henning]

I keep meaning to watch one or two of those, but the fact that there will eventually be 108 of them is intimidating 

I watch Bartoli's Scarlatti vids as he rolled them out, FWIW. (I mean, though, that I enjoyed his presentations very much.)

[calyptorhynchus]

I agree; though the Naxos recordings that Hurwitz uses for samples don't seem to be showing these works in the most flattering light....

I dunno, I collected the Naxos disks as they came out, although they are from different ensembles and are variable, I found most of them lively and engaging. (For comparison I have the PI box and about 20 or so odd symphony disks from different orchestras (inc a few Dorati ones)).

[Daverz]

I agree; though the Naxos recordings that Hurwitz uses for samples don't seem to be showing these works in the most flattering light....

Why do you say that?  I think at least the recordings with Cologne Chamber Orchestra and Helmut Müller–Brühl are very good.  There's a listing of the orchestras used here:

https://www.naxos.com/SharedFiles/pdf/8.503400_numerical-index.pdf#

[Jo498]

I had 3-5 of the Naxos Haydn symphonies and they were overall good, not great. The Müller-Brühl might have the best sound and playing (they are also among the more recent of their recordings) but sometimes mannered (I really disliked his #80). Drahos with some hungarian ensemble? was also good but the sound a bit boomy and resonant.
Hurwitz seems to have a deal with some labels letting him play excerpts and for Haydn Naxos might have been the only option.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I keep meaning to watch one or two of those, but the fact that there will eventually be 108 of them is intimidating 

PD

[Karl Henning]

PD

I can "watch" 108 vids of Haydn symphonies. But 108 vids of Hurwitz jawing about Haydn symphonies? Include me out, as the saying goes.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I can "watch" 108 vids of Haydn symphonies. But 108 vids of Hurwitz jawing about Haydn symphonies? Include me out, as the saying goes.

Here, here! 

PD

[Brian]

Is it too late to fly to Switzerland? Probably not.
Is it too expensive to fly to Switzerland? Probably yes. 
BUT there will be a live broadcast on YouTube

Il Giardino Armonico
Kammerorchester Basel
(both orchestras playing together to mimic the large size ensemble available in London's Hanover Rooms)
Giovanni Antonini, Dirigent

Joseph Haydn:
Sinfonie Nr. 90 in C-Dur
Sinfonie Nr. 98 in B-Dur
Pause
Gioachino Rossini:
Ouvertüre zu «La scala di seta»
Sinfonie Nr. 94 in G-Dur «The Surprise»

Concerts 23-26 January, recording session to follow (Vol. 16, CD release in 2024!)

The YouTube streaming concert will be the January 26 concert in Basel, with an introductory talk from the conductor and a Haydn scholar. Talk at 6:15 Switzerland time, concert at 7:30 there.

[Symphonic Addict]

Previously I was listening to the Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major. I thought it was like too much "polite" and polished of a performance for me.

Are there any recordings of his cello concertos with more robustness, vigour and audacity?

[aukhawk]

I generally only listen toi the C major concerto but of recordings that couple the two, Truls Mørk or Alisa Weilerstein might suit better, or at the HIPper end of the spectrum, Christophe Coin or Pieter Wispelwey.  If I could only have one, I'd probably go with Coin. The Weilerstein pairing is coupled with a good rendition of Verklarte Nacht - of all things!
In the C major, I have a particular fondness for Ludovit Kanta for his absolutely audacious 'out there' cadenzas.


Haydn, Boccherini; Cello Concertos; Kanta, Breiner, Capella Istropolitana; Naxos

[MusicTurner]

I second Kanta in Haydn too, for example. The early Rostropovich/Barshai concertos (1963; live; at least on Brilliant) are surely among the liveliest recordings in existence, with interesting phrasings too, but you might find the sound quality too old, and they can be a bit rough as well.

[Symphonic Addict]

Thanks for the replies, gents! I'll continue exploring then

[Que]

Previously I was listening to the Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major. I thought it was like too much "polite" and polished of a performance for me.

Are there any recordings of his cello concertos with more robustness, vigour and audacity?

Anner Bijlsma:

[Brian]

Is it too late to fly to Switzerland? Probably not.
Is it too expensive to fly to Switzerland? Probably yes. 
BUT there will be a live broadcast on YouTube

Il Giardino Armonico
Kammerorchester Basel
(both orchestras playing together to mimic the large size ensemble available in London's Hanover Rooms)
Giovanni Antonini, Dirigent

Joseph Haydn:
Sinfonie Nr. 90 in C-Dur
Sinfonie Nr. 98 in B-Dur
Pause
Gioachino Rossini:
Ouvertüre zu «La scala di seta»
Sinfonie Nr. 94 in G-Dur «The Surprise»

Concerts 23-26 January, recording session to follow (Vol. 16, CD release in 2024!)

The YouTube streaming concert will be the January 26 concert in Basel, with an introductory talk from the conductor and a Haydn scholar. Talk at 6:15 Switzerland time, concert at 7:30 there.

LIVE STREAMING NOW - No. 90 just started two minutes ago!

[Brian]

Comments:

The combined orchestras sound great (and are not a huge ensemble or even full-sized by modern standards). Very characterful HIP woodwind soloists. Valveless horns.
Antonini conducts without baton, with generally purposeful hands rather than demonstrative flailing or leaping, although plenty of silly faces. The violins stand up.

90:
The development and recap are repeated in full after the final coda of the first movement. (The latter after quite a long pause, to create a trick ending.) I know other conductors like Harnoncourt do this in certain symphonies, but I'm not familiar with the discussion around this particular practice and why people do it.

More peculiar is the finale. I must admit I was munching on lunch and not paying the closest possible attention. But the movement seemed to end, there was a long pause, and then the players plunged into what sounded like a "Haydn surprise" bonus coda and then the development and recap again, followed, of course, by another long pause and then another "Haydn surprise" bonus coda. This strikes me as foolishness - surely the joke is spoiled if you repeat it, and just becomes a prank? I notice the movement timing roughly doubles the time on Bruggen's recording.

In general, apart from the error in judgment in the finale, this struck me as an extremely good performance and some of the 2032 project's best work. Ensemble sound is wonderful. There was only a tiny bit of not-quite-unison playing at big climaxes. And, on the other hand, good pacing throughout, expressive phrasing, forward winds (even before you consider the excellent flute and oboe solos throughout), and a passionate minuet full of contrasts which was the absolute highlight of the performance.

Full symphony 31 minutes


98:
One of my favorite symphonies ever!
The phrasing of the first, minor key statement is really great. You could almost say they play it like a series of blunt, angry notes which stand on their own. In other words, there's no phrasing - they're not a phrase at all. Just notes: boom. boom. boom. Like someone's very first piano lesson. And this makes it even more delightful when the movement proper starts and everyone is singing the tune so fluently and charmingly.

From there through the finale, everything goes great. A wonderfully paced, fun, excellent performance by a great-sounding ensemble, again highlighted by the solo flute and oboe players. The harpsichord is not deployed at all until the end (no, uh, continuous continuo), so they wisely do not spoil the surprise. The finale might be the teeny tiniest bit too fast (the main theme is a bit blurry), but exciting anyway. The little slow bits in the coda are only just slower than the surrounding movement - maybe the tempo that a Big Band Orchestra would have chosen in the 1970s - not the really prankish big-contrast slowness of someone like Bruggen.

OK interlude time!

[Brian]

Rossini overture:

This is just a brilliant inclusion. It really ties together the styles of Rossini and Haydn to present them on one program. The wit, the structural mastery, the capacity for "descriptive" music which evokes certain effects (laughter, animals, etc.), the virtuosic woodwind solos. You really get to see Rossini as Haydn's heir. This is especially the case as "La scala di seta," like Haydn's 90th from the first half of the program, features a very prominent oboe solo. Here, it was flawless. The oboist really earned bonus pay tonight!

As this was the only piece to incorporate clarinets, the directors of the livestream forgot to have a camera looking at the clarinet players.

94
Of the three big surprises in the three Haydn symphonies on this program, the one actually called "Surprise" gets the best execution. It's played straight, no pianissimissimissimo before the big chord, no yelling like - is it Minkowski who has the players yell? Or Norrington? The rest of the performance is wonderful - and whoever this oboist is, they should put his name on the cover. There is another mini-surprise - just in the final bars, when the woodwinds get in two little chords before the final two tutti chords bring the whole symphony to an end, Antonini balances the flutes, oboes, and bassoons equally to achieve a nice flatulent, comical texture. Almost like he's preparing for 93!

Suitably exciting in the finales, expressive in the melodies - note, Hurwitz, the string players use vibrato in slow movements  - this was a trio of really good performances. Only the finale of 90 strikes me as a genuine failure of judgment.

With a full 100 minutes of music, I presume this will be released as a 2CD set.