Haydn's Haus

[Madiel]

MP3 is a format designed for dial-up internet that needs to die.

And if you do have decent headphones or speakers, they will expose the flaws of MP3 quite readily.

[mc ukrneal]

A number of years ago, I asked the question of what to get (for the quartets). The answers were so all over the place that I bought a little of everyone to see which one I liked most. That would be the Angeles String Quartet. But I liked many of them. Just to balance things out (because it's just wrong to be in agreement at GMG lol!!!), the Festetics and Mosiques were towards the bottom of my list. Generally, in addition to the Angeles, I liked Tetrai, Auryn, Takacs, and Endellion. Regardless of who was playing though, I've enjoyed the adventure!

[JBS]

I liked Tetrai, Auryn, Takacs, and Endellion.

Are any of those complete? (Auryn, I think.)  I  have a duo CD by the Endellions and at least 2 from Takacs.

There is the London Haydn Quartet on Hyperion, if you want to consider a PI series currently in progress.

[mc ukrneal]

Are any of those complete? (Auryn, I think.)  I  have a duo CD by the Endellions and at least 2 from Takacs.

There is the London Haydn Quartet on Hyperion, if you want to consider a PI series currently in progress.

I think Auryn and Tatrai. I've not looked to see since I have the Angeles complete. London Haydn was just starting when I was looking at them, but I liked what I heard.

[Jo498]

The Buchberger are rather "rough and ready". For some it is just too unpolished, others like the kind of energy they sometimes bring. The Angeles is quite good with two caveats: They are a little too much on the "bright side", think roughly Marriner style in Mozart and Haydn and some (not all) of the recordings seem to unduly favor the first violin. OTOH they are more lively than what I have heard of the Kodaly and have nicer sound, better intonation etc. than the Buchberger.
I don't think the Kodalys are bad but I believe they were absurdly overrated by Penguin (or gramophone?) in the mid-1990s when there was not so much competition and Naxos was so cheap.

Of the HIP ensembles, I have not heard the New London which might be a step up from the older recordings. When I heard both Mosaiques (opp.20,5176,77) and Festetics (all but 33/42, 51 and 76+77), I preferred the former, although obviously they recorded fewer works. Both can be on the slow side and not lively enough at times. The Apponyi/Freiburger op.33 is maybe too much so, they also don't always make very pleasant sounds (somewhat wiry) whereas Mosaiques and Festetics most of the time have a certain "warm, earthy" sound that is rather unique, I think. If the Apponyi is hard to get, the Cuarteto Casals is similar in approach on modern instruments and flawless, if still quite lean and mean, sound.
Maybe the best of the HIP (that I heard, i.e. without New London and a few others) are the three anthologies with the Schuppanzigh although they understandably picked mostly rather famous quartets one might have already in lots of recordings.

The Auryn is complete (except for the dubious op.3 and the pieces excised from opp.1+2) and they might have the best sound and maybe also the most accomplished playing. As they used to be somewhat expensive and I was already well stocked with Haydn I only have op.33 from them and was slightly disappointed by it although it is hard to say what seems to be missing.

[JBS]

New release

[Florestan]

I dare you to find one!! haha!

As far as I can see, there's not much love here for the Aeolian. I must be a philistine for liking them.

[schnittkease]

So... I went on a limb and got LHQ's Op. 33 + Hamelin's piano sonatas (Vol. 1). I'm not familiar enough with the works to judge the recordings, but at first glance they seem to be fully committed readings. Thanks for the recommendations - in the next couple of days I'll be posting my thoughts.

[Gurn Blanston]

So... I went on a limb and got LHQ's Op. 33 + Hamelin's piano sonatas (Vol. 1). I'm not familiar enough with the works to judge the recordings, but at first glance they seem to be fully committed readings. Thanks for the recommendations - in the next couple of days I'll be posting my thoughts.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I have. Haven't heard the Hamelin, but I have heard that he is one of the most interesting modern piano renditions. Hope to hear your take on it.

[Gurn Blanston]

Apparently the days when Haydn could just toss off a string quartet or two in just a few weeks are long gone. Opus 77 has always presented the mystery of why it is just 2.5 out of 6 works. I tried to explore that puzzle a little this time. Hope you enjoy (in a way) what I was able to discover.

Did he die so Beethoven could live?

Thanks!

[JBS]

Apparently the days when Haydn could just toss off a string quartet or two in just a few weeks are long gone. Opus 77 has always presented the mystery of why it is just 2.5 out of 6 works. I tried to explore that puzzle a little this time. Hope you enjoy (in a way) what I was able to discover.

Did he die so Beethoven could live?

Thanks!

I will submit a variant, entirely speculative and unprovable: that Haydn felt himself to be in competition with himself. He may have wanted to produce a work that was even better than Op 76, felt that he was not (even if he was to our ears doing just that)....and there lay the root of the problem.

He was facing the problem Kanye now faces for next Feb 14. How do you outdo Kenny G live in your living room?

BTW
Is that Mozart quote really apropos? The reviewer was referring to WAM's middle symphonies,  armed with knowledge of the late symphonies (not to mention whatever was known in Vienna at the time about FJH's late symphonies).  Is it surprising he was underwhelmed by music composed 25 years earlier?

[Gurn Blanston]

I will submit a variant, entirely speculative and unprovable: that Haydn felt himself to be in competition with himself. He may have wanted to produce a work that was even better than Op 76, felt that he was not (even if he was to our ears doing just that)....and there lay the root of the problem.

He was facing the problem Kanye now faces for next Feb 14. How do you outdo Kenny G live in your living room?

BTW
Is that Mozart quote really apropos? The reviewer was referring to WAM's middle symphonies,  armed with knowledge of the late symphonies (not to mention whatever was known in Vienna at the time about FJH's late symphonies).  Is it surprising he was underwhelmed by music composed 25 years earlier?

It's simply hard to know what was going through someone's head at such a distant remove. You may be right, it is one of those things it is hard to argue about because answers aren't forthcoming, I just think Landon doesn't have a leg to stand on, just like I didn't buy in to his original argument about piano concertos and operas.

Well, yes, I think the Mozart thing IS apropos, at least in setting the stage for what turn of the century cultural trends were doing. If that publisher didn't think the Mozart was going to sell, he certainly wouldn't have published it (at his own expense). In addition, it's not like they aren't good, middle-period symphonies, one of them is the Little g minor, the latter 2 are #27 & #30. 183 is still popular today!  But it shows you how the taste was suddenly changing. Works that had been popular for 25-28 years were suddenly 'blah!'. And Ditters had always been a very big deal in his lifetime. Now he couldn't give it away. So the climate was changing, and changing fast. I think it's interesting, to say the least.

[JBS]

It just occurred to me.
GMG must be one of the few places in the universe where, in talking about fin-de-siecle Vienna, one must make clear which siecle's fin is being referred to...

[Gurn Blanston]

It just occurred to me.
GMG must be one of the few places in the universe where, in talking about fin-de-siecle Vienna, one must make clear which siecle's fin is being referred to...

  Yup!

[Karl Henning]

Apparently the days when Haydn could just toss off a string quartet or two in just a few weeks are long gone. Opus 77 has always presented the mystery of why it is just 2.5 out of 6 works. I tried to explore that puzzle a little this time. Hope you enjoy (in a way) what I was able to discover.

Did he die so Beethoven could live?

Thanks!

Very much enjoyed this, O Gurn!

[Gurn Blanston]

Very much enjoyed this, O Gurn!

Thanks, Dr. H. Op 77#2 is a fine accompaniment for reading this.

[SymphonicAddict]

Symphonies 6, 7, 22, 31, 39, 45, 48, 49, 53, 60, 76, 82, 85, 88, 93, 98, 100, 101, 103 have sticked as my favorites.

[Ainsi la nuit]

I'm so in love with Haydn these days! He really was one of the very greatest composers of all time. Just tonight I've been listening to the last mass in B-flat, various overtures, the D major keyboard concerto and the G minor string quartet from the op. 20 collection. What an astounding range of expression and craftsmanship!

I also have a long-term project of listening to the complete symphonies - 40 done, quite a lot to go! There's so much to discover in these works: innovation, lyricism, wit, deeply felt expression... I find myself increasingly drawn to this music, all the time. I've always liked Haydn a lot, but I feel like I'm going completely crazy now! 

During the Christmas holidays I also played through a few of the piano sonatas - I'm by no means a professional pianist, but nevertheless enjoy playing every now and then. I'm looking forward to exploring the music this way more often; I've already acquired some piano transcriptions of the symphonies...

[Gurn Blanston]

I'm so in love with Haydn these days! He really was one of the very greatest composers of all time. Just tonight I've been listening to the last mass in B-flat, various overtures, the D major keyboard concerto and the G minor string quartet from the op. 20 collection. What an astounding range of expression and craftsmanship!

I also have a long-term project of listening to the complete symphonies - 40 done, quite a lot to go! There's so much to discover in these works: innovation, lyricism, wit, deeply felt expression... I find myself increasingly drawn to this music, all the time. I've always liked Haydn a lot, but I feel like I'm going completely crazy now! 

During the Christmas holidays I also played through a few of the piano sonatas - I'm by no means a professional pianist, but nevertheless enjoy playing every now and then. I'm looking forward to exploring the music this way more often; I've already acquired some piano transcriptions of the symphonies...

I think Haydn is unique in many ways; he appeals to such a wide range of tastes and depths of interest and understanding. He was aware of the need for this even from early times, and in some way was able to satisfy more people than most composers can. His mainstream of music is very large, so much so that you don't need to get off into the side paths to find something new, but if you do, you will be well-rewarded, since he expended as much craftsmanship on an English Canzonet for voice and fortepiano like 'My Mother bids me bind my hair' as he did on the Drumroll Symphony. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Apparently the days when Haydn could just toss off a string quartet or two in just a few weeks are long gone. Opus 77 has always presented the mystery of why it is just 2.5 out of 6 works. I tried to explore that puzzle a little this time. Hope you enjoy (in a way) what I was able to discover.

Did he have to die so Beethoven could live?

Thanks!

Surprised no one brought up the little hook title I used in my link. I thought you would find it intriguing....