Haydn's Haus

[George]

JA! George beat me to it! That cd have really intense sound...the type that makes it easily accessible.

Next time it's on sale, it goes straight into my collection.

[Martin Lind]

I consider seriously the complete Haydn symphonies with Fischer. I have already 9 CDs with symphonies of Haydn, well, not all of them are masterpieces, but I would like to have the complete set. Opinions?

[SonicMan46]

Martin - please do a search on 'Haydn Symphonies'; there are plenty of threads & posts already in existence to get you started; one specifically that discusses the Fischer set you mentioned - always best to do a little searching first, esp. if the topic is likely a popular & common one.  Welcome aboard, and I'm sure you'll receive plenty of responses!   

[Tyson]

Fischer is very good at the middle symphonies, from about 20 to 80, but 80-104 are too heavy and thick sounding.  Bruggen and Harnoncourt are your best options in those.

[Lethevich]

Hi Martin. It may be a bad idea to buy a complete set if you are not yet sure of Haydn's value - certainly a lot of the symphonies are slightly lower in inspiration than the famous ones (although to somebody who loves Haydn, this is not a problem, and every work has much to engage the listener).

Perhaps consider purchasing sets of "named" symphonies - such as London, Paris and Sturm und Drang. There is a nice set for the S&D symphonies by Pinnock on DG/Archiv which covers quite a lot of his famous "middle" output. Then for earlier symphonies, perhaps buy single discs which have good reviews. This method of collecting will probably not be cheaper than Fischer, but it will give you the symphonies in a wider variety of performers/styles without missing out on any major works.

Edit: The Fischer is of course very good, though. I forgot to mention this It is also very cheap, but as previously mentioned, the later symphonies will need supplementing, as they are weaker performances (I recommend a cheap box with Kuijken on Virgin for the Paris set). The Pinnock S&D set versus the Fischer depends on your tastes - Fischer uses a larger orchestra.

[BorisG]

Kuijken, Beecham, Szell.

[SonicMan46]

......... In fact, I'm tempted to start a new Haydn Symphony Thread as I type ........

Dm - LOL  - please, if you do, don´t pick the Symphonies or SQs -    How about his works for the baryton? 

[alkan]

I have recently purchased the Kuijken versions of the Paris and London symphonies, and I am very impressed.     
I know most of these symphonies very well, via Szell, Bernstein, Dorati, Marriner and Harnoncourt, but Kuijken's approach
with a smaller HIP band reveals a lot that I was missing previously.      Also, his choice of tempos and general rythmic
impetus is normally very well judged, except for the menuets which he tends to take too fast for my taste.

These days, the price of CD's has dropped so much that it is not too expensive to have 2 versions of these works ....
one HIP and one "traditional"   (Davis, Jochum, Bernstein, etc).      The contrasts are fascinating .......

[Tyson]

Kuijken is very good (for the reasons you mention), and I rec it for the same reasons.  Bruggen is similar in strengths, and just a bit better, IMO, with a light touch, but not always so fast fast fast, and a bit more character in phrasing and better use of dynamic contrasts.  Might be hard to find, but very much worth tracking down.

[rickardg]

I thought I'd revive this great thread by pointing out that jpc has a ten minute video of Die Schöpfung with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie. Nothing special, and in my case the audio wasn't even synced with the video which made for some humorous moments, but it really made me want play in an orchestra or sing in a choir again.

(Picture is link)

[Expresso]

I have that recording. Now that i see the video, i understand much more about it.
It seems that everybody in the orchestra and the chorus are enjoying their playing and Haydn's work. It sounds very joyfull.

I really liked the casual clothing 

[Que]

Hello Bill - good evening & glad to see you posting more again! 

Concerning the Haydn Baryton Trios - not even close - the pic shown in my post is just one disc; Haydn wrote over 120 'Baryton Trios' - his employer, Prince Nick Esterhazy was an amateur baryton player and demanded much, hence the VAST output from a dependable Joe! 

In addition, Haydn wrote other compositions for the baryton, so his 'complete output' in this instrumental genre would require a LARGE set of discs - in addition to the CD shown, I have two discs w/ John Hsu (one below on the ASV label); I also have the 2-CD set below (right) of Baryton Octets w/ the Ricercar Consort, basically Divertimenti which include the baryton (not sure w/o doing some comparsions whether these are transcriptions from other Haydn works?) - Dave

 

Spotted a new recording of baryton trios by Haydn.
Though (unfortunately) performed on violin (Pablo Valetti), alto (Patricia Gagnon) and cello (Petr Skalka).


[mp3=200,20,0,left]http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fugalibera.com%2Fdata%2Fcds%2F309%2Fclip.mp3[/mp3]

Q

[FideLeo]

Spotted a new recording of baryton trios by Haydn.
Though (unfortunately) performed on violin (Pablo Valetti), alto (Patricia Gagnon) and cello (Petr Skalka).

Unfortunate re-scoring yes but the cover picture by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun (a self portrait) is as delightful as ever. 

ps.  A Warner box of Harnoncourt's previous recordings of middle Haydn symphonies with Concentus musicus has been released at the low price point.   Good to hear them again!

[alkan]

And yet another vote for Kuijken.   I have the 2 box sets 82-92, and 93-104 and they are wonderful.      A terrific contrast to other versions that I have with traditional ensembles (Harnoncourt, Bernstein, Mackerras).       No Haydn-lover should be without Kuijken's collections ....

[FideLeo]

And yet another vote for Kuijken.   I have the 2 box sets 82-92, and 93-104 and they are wonderful.      A terrific contrast to other versions that I have with traditional ensembles (Harnoncourt, Bernstein, Mackerras).       No Haydn-lover should be without Kuijken's collections ....

Hopefully no one has forgotten about Bruggen and Jacobs here. 

[M forever]

A Warner box of Harnoncourt's previous recordings of middle Haydn symphonies with Concentus musicus has been released at the low price point.

I can't find that anywhere.

[Bunny]

Try Amazon!  I only know of the earlier recordings with the Concertgebouw that have been released as a box set, but I'll keep checking. 

[Bunny]

Okay, the only box set of Haydn I've found with the CMW is the Paris Symphonies.  The only recordings of the middle period symphonies I can find with the CMW are not in a box set. 

There is also a box set of the Haydn Masses with the CMW, but that's all I could locate.

[Bunny]

Have you found the recording of the Symphonies 45 & 60?  That's hanging around in various places, but I can't find hide nor hair of any others.

[Gurn Blanston]

I can't find it either, but I suspect that it has only been announced and not actually released yet, at least not in North America. So, I shall patiently await... certainly don't want to try and put together the singles.



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Listening to:
Bruckner 5tets - Melos Quartet / Santiago - Bruckner Quintet in F for Strings 4th mvmt