Haydn's Haus

[Gurn Blanston]

I REALLY like this. Already a fan of Il Giardino armonico and their sound, especially their dynamite Vivaldi recordings. But I was blown away by the dynamic flexibility of these Haydn performances, between the energy and beauty, and how every phrase is meticulously presented.

Just ordered it, Classical Music Superstore has it in stock today. Should be here by the weekend. Hoping the packaging matches the quality of the music-making! 

[Karl Henning]

I know I eagerly await your report, O Gurn!

[Wakefield]

Just ordered it, Classical Music Superstore has it in stock today. Should be here by the weekend. Hoping the packaging matches the quality of the music-making! 

I have listened to it two times and it's excellent, but... I mean it's excellent Haydn, but not too much distinctive compared to the best interpretations available. I had wanted (but I accept this is my problem) that  they had played their Haydn as they play Gluck in the same CD: as if they were completely mad for the music, as if Haydn hadn't been played before, wild and "disheveled". Anyway, I know I will be quite alone about this. 

BTW, the Gluck interpretation is outstanding.   

[Gurn Blanston]

I just bought this set, it should be here early next week.

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It looks quite interesting, it is an English version (I currently have Hogwood and Macreesh in English) using the 1803 text revision which is supposed to be far more fluent than the 1798 original. I have read about it, now a chance to hear it.

I have listened to it two times and it's excellent, but... I mean it's excellent Haydn, but not too much distinctive compared to the best interpretations available. I had wanted (but I accept this is my problem) that  they had played their Haydn as they play Gluck in the same CD: as if they were completely mad for the music, as if Haydn hadn't been played before, wild and "disheveled". Anyway, I know I will be quite alone about this. 

BTW, the Gluck interpretation is outstanding.   

Gordo,
Thanks for the feedback. I don't think, really, that you are the only one who would wish for some unbuttoned, wild Haydn! The music is there, waiting to be taken, Il Giardino would be the group to take it! As Greg mentions, they dd so with Vivaldi.

I haven't received that yet, but today I got the disk above, The Creation with Musica Saeculorum. I don't know anything about this group, my first recording by them. They appear to be quite well stocked with musicians, judging by the list of players. I was hoping, though that the liner notes would discuss the translation used here. But all it says is this on the box (and only in German):
Oratorium in drei Teilen Gesungen in der englischen Textfassung des Erstdrucks von 1803

which I take to mean:
Oratorio in three parts sung in the English version of the text of the first edition from 1803

I'm interested to know more about this 1803 edition; it doesn't jibe up with what I've been able to find out so far (just cursory browsing though, since I've only had it for about 3 hours), but Temperley in the Cambridge "The Creation" doesn't have any mention of anything in 1803. It is possible that the actual release of the score to the public occurred then, I guess. What they are really doing, I think, is separating themselves from McCreesh's admittedly self-edited libretto. In any case, we shall see how it turned out, the libretto may be the least of their worries!! 

[kishnevi]

Here is the 1803 edition of the score.  A reprint of the 1800 score by B&H in Liepzig. http://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Schöpfung%2C_Hob._21:2_%28Haydn%2C_Joseph%29

[Gurn Blanston]

Here is the 1803 edition of the score.  A reprint of the 1800 score by B&H in Liepzig. http://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Schöpfung%2C_Hob._21:2_%28Haydn%2C_Joseph%29

Somehow your link got garbled, but this is it, thanks for looking it up!!

The Creation score

[Gurn Blanston]

Here is the 1803 edition of the score.  A reprint of the 1800 score by B&H in Liepzig. http://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Schöpfung%2C_Hob._21:2_%28Haydn%2C_Joseph%29

Cool! I have the Dover score, but this is very interesting. I'll have to have a go at following along from this!

[Karl Henning]

Always something of interest in da Haus!

[Old Listener]

A new (I think) recording of the Haydn Sinfonia Concertante by Abbado and Orchestra Mozart

http://www.amoeba.com/mozart-oboe-concerto-k-314-j-haydn-sinfonia-concertante-hob-i-105-claudio-abbado/albums/3351845/

I've downloaded it and the Mozart Oboe Concerto from Amoeba.com but not yet listened to either performance.

The Abbado / COE recording is my favorite for the Sinfonia Concertante and I've enjoyed the Abbado / Orchestra Mozart recordings I've heard.

[Gurn Blanston]

A new (I think) recording of the Haydn Sinfonia Concertante by Abbado and Orchestra Mozart

http://www.amoeba.com/mozart-oboe-concerto-k-314-j-haydn-sinfonia-concertante-hob-i-105-claudio-abbado/albums/3351845/

I've downloaded it and the Mozart Oboe Concerto from Amoeba.com but not yet listened to either performance.

The Abbado / COE recording is my favorite for the Sinfonia Concertante and I've enjoyed the Abbado / Orchestra Mozart recordings I've heard.

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. I've never heard that band play anything, but I am a Abbado fan. When I saw the name I was thinking it might be that PI orchestra he did the Mozart violin concertos with a couple years back, but apparently not.

[kishnevi]

It should be the same group, and not only the VCs..  Going by their Mozart, Papa was in good hands.

contains everything except the newish CDs of piano concertos with Argerich.

[Ken B]

It should be the same group, and not only the VCs..  Going by their Mozart, Papa was in good hands.

contains everything except the newish CDs of piano concertos with Argerich.

Yes. I just praised that yesterday. A Hurwitzer CD from Hell to boot!

[Cosi bel do]

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. I've never heard that band play anything, but I am a Abbado fan. When I saw the name I was thinking it might be that PI orchestra he did the Mozart violin concertos with a couple years back, but apparently not.

The Mozart Orchestra is the last orchestra Abbado created, around 10 years ago in Bologna, with many members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and other young stars. It sounds actually a lot like the Mahler CO. Almost all recordings made by Abbado with the Mozart Orchestra in his late years are magnificent (if a little too perfect, too formal sometimes).

It is not a period instruments orchestra, but it sounds a little like if it was, as always with Abbado during his last 20 years, when he decided to learn his lesson in HIP without changing instruments, with a great result, a little artificial maybe, but very seductive.

I heard them in concert once : an incredibly dense and splendidly played Egmont overture, a very boring and inflated reading of Schumann's concerto with Lupu (but this was more Lupu's fault...), and a superb Schumann 2nd Symphony (on CD here).
He also did a few Mozart CDs with them (including concertos with Argerich, Pires), the Berg & Beethoven violin concertos with Isabelle Faust (on HM), and the Brandenburg concertos with Carmignola.

The Haydn recording should be something too, I'll wait for a CD release (ASIN B00OGU66N0). I would have liked Abbado to perform more Haydn in these last years, instead of re-doing the same Mozart symphonies again and again...

[kishnevi]

Yes. I just praised that yesterday. A Hurwitzer CD from Hell to boot!

When did he do that?  (Looked on CT website but did not see any rating that suggested it was from The Other Place.,)

[Gurn Blanston]

The Mozart Orchestra is the last orchestra Abbado created, around 10 years ago in Bologna, with many members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and other young stars. It sounds actually a lot like the Mahler CO. Almost all recordings made by Abbado with the Mozart Orchestra in his late years are magnificent (if a little too perfect, too formal sometimes).

It is not a period instruments orchestra, but it sounds a little like if it was, as always with Abbado during his last 20 years, when he decided to learn his lesson in HIP without changing instruments, with a great result, a little artificial maybe, but very seductive.

I heard them in concert once : an incredibly dense and splendidly played Egmont overture, a very boring and inflated reading of Schumann's concerto with Lupu (but this was more Lupu's fault...), and a superb Schumann 2nd Symphony (on CD here).
He also did a few Mozart CDs with them (including concertos with Argerich, Pires), the Berg & Beethoven violin concertos with Isabelle Faust (on HM), and the Brandenburg concertos with Carmignola.

The Haydn recording should be something too, I'll wait for a CD release (ASIN B00OGU66N0). I would have liked Abbado to perform more Haydn in these last years, instead of re-doing the same Mozart symphonies again and again...

Thanks for the info. I only noted their existence en passant, actually because people here spoke about it. Someone originally stated they were  PI and no one corrected it, so I just took that inaccurate 'factoid' with me. Still, I would like to hear them, and likely will this time! 

[Ken B]

Thanks for the info. I only noted their existence en passant, actually because people here spoke about it. Someone originally stated they were  PI and no one corrected it, so I just took that inaccurate 'factoid' with me. Still, I would like to hear them, and likely will this time! 

I am just this minute listening to them play 102.

[Old Listener]

I am just this minute listening to them play 102.

are you listening to an Abbado / Orchestra Mozart recording, broadcast or perhaps an Abbado / COE recording from a DG CD?

[Ken B]

are you listening to an Abbado / Orchestra Mozart recording, broadcast or perhaps an Abbado / COE recording from a DG CD?

Oops, right you are COE.

[Karl Henning]

Yes. I just praised that yesterday. A Hurwitzer CD from Hell to boot!

I've long suspected that the Hurwitzer actually enjoys suffering . . . .

[Sergeant Rock]

When did he do that?  (Looked on CT website but did not see any rating that suggested it was from The Other Place.,)

Ken is referring to an Insider review titled "CD From Hell: Abbado Plays Mozart with Authentic Amateurs"

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Some highlights:

"Abbado drifts about appearing at festivals in front of pick-up ensembles and has the European press fawning and drooling over the result as if these ad-hoc organizations really can match the polish and personality of the world's finest regularly constituted orchestras[....]All that means is that major labels can record relatively inexperienced kids with big-name conductors on the cheap, and frankly this band really fits that description. The strings sound thin and weak, the trumpets and drums like toy instruments in a performance of The Nutcracker. The woodwinds define the word "characterless[...]Then again, timbre seems to be irrelevant to Abbado these days. Instead, he offers a complex of tediously predictable mannerisms. Loud phrases invariably taper off to feminine endings[...]The engineering certainly doesn't help–the acoustic is extremely dry and unflattering."


Sarge