Haydn's Haus

[DavidW]

I have finished the Keyboard Van Sweiten Trio boxset, wonder stuff at amazingly low price.......I had no idea it would be this good!
Listened to Mosaique Op. 64, 76, 77 SQ box, a vividly recorded beautiful set. Just began the Buchberger complete box, so far Op 9, 17 are just wonderful and exactly what I had hoped for. Very puzzled with the lack of respect this gets in the Haydn SQ thread  

The Van Swieten box is amazing, for once I strongly prefer an ensemble over the Beaux Arts Trio.  I think they even out do L'Archibudelli, which I have for the london ones.

Very soon I will see how the baryton recordings in the brilliant set stand up, but then since I've only heard one recording before, the competition is not really stiff.

[DarkAngel]

The difference between these and the Van Sweiten's is that the works up to 1780 are played on harpsichord and the ones after on fortepiano. This very closely mirrors reality, since Haydn didn't have a fortepiano before then and almost certainly wrote for harpsichord right up until 1781.

Same concept of instrument progression used in Schornsheim piano sonata 13 CD set pictured above, uses 5 different instruments:
Two harpsicords 5 CDs, clavicord 1 CD, two forte pianos 7 CDs.......waiting for arrival  

[Gurn Blanston]

Same concept of instrument progression used in Schornsheim piano sonata 13 CD set pictured above, uses 5 different instruments:
Two harpsicords 5 CDs, clavicord 1 CD, two forte pianos 7 CDs.......waiting for arrival  

Yes, precisely the same. In fact, in my complete 'project' I use Schornsheim for all the pre-1780 works and Brautigam for the post-1780. IMO, she shines in the earlier works, but can't match Brautigam's energy in the late ones. So a good combination.

[Antoine Marchand]

"No examples of the lira organizzata survive, which is apparently a good thing, since by all accounts this contraption, which combined bagpipe drone with a sort of hand-cranked, bowed guitar, must have sounded horrible".

David Hurwitz, Exploring Haydn. A Listener's Guide to Music's Boldest Innovator, p. 148.

Curious mixture of lack of information and wrong assumptions.

The first three images down are of a lira organizzata copy of one made in 1771, from drawings by the Benedictine monk and organ builder Dom Bedos (1709-1779). The latter image is a lira organizzata (copy of one in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London), used in the DeLirium disc commented in another thread.

[Gurn Blanston]

Nice pictures, Antoine. And I have to agree with you, the Hurwitzer has misassumed the Lira altogether. Maybe the description sounds bad, but the instrument sounds very cool. The genuine one used in the Delirium disk has a sound that turns out to be very similar to the little barrel organ that Klocker uses in the Notturnos disk. I find it most enjoyable, possibly because the music is written so idiomatically for the tone color being produced.



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Listening to:
Quatuor Festetics - Hob 03 83 Quartet in d for Strings Op 103 2nd mvmt - Andante grazioso

[Antoine Marchand]

Did you notice the recording of the five concerti for two lire organizzata in the Brilliant big box set, Gurn? It is an old Vox recording - from the sixties, I believe - with Hugo Ruf playing a true lira organizzata, probably the only operative at that time. Unfortunately, the use of just one instrument sacrifices certain part of the conversational texture of these pieces, but the performance is excellent, with a nice and well recorded instrument.

HERE TWO SAMPLES

[Bogey]

Hey!  Doesn't Dave (Sonic) have one of those in his livingroom?

[Gurn Blanston]

Did you notice the recording of the five concerti for two lire organizzata in the Brilliant big box set, Gurn? It is an old Vox recording - from the sixties, I believe - with Hugo Ruf playing a true lira organizzata, probably the only operative at that time. Unfortunately, the use of just one instrument sacrifices certain part of the conversational texture of these pieces, but the performance is excellent, with a nice and well recorded instrument.

HERE TWO SAMPLES

No, I don't have the Big Box yet, I am holding out until I have filled in some other important gaps. The version I have of all 5 is Haydn's transcription for flute and oboe that he made for London (by Haydn Sinfonietta Wien / Huss. Superb!) and then the 1 or 2 that are on Delirium. DavidW has those, that's what he was gushing about last week, how nice they sounded.   Thanks for the samples, I'll have a go at them now.

Just curious if you, or anyone else, knows the story of that Decca set of the Notturnos by Alan Hacker:



I can't find any info on them, curious if he uses a lira or if this is also the flute and oboe version (which I have by L'Archibudelli). The Hacker is available as an Arkiv disk...   



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Listening to:
Rhorer, Jérémie/Le Cercle de l'Harmonie - K 183 Symphony #25 in g 2nd mvmt - Andante

For those who haven't heard this group before, this disk kicks butt and takes names. Very commendable.

[Gurn Blanston]

Hey!  Doesn't Dave (Sonic) have one of those in his livingroom?

Made it himself, just last week. Harpo helped...



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Listening to:
Rhorer, Jérémie/Le Cercle de l'Harmonie - K 183 Symphony #25 in g 4th mvmt - Allegro

[Antoine Marchand]

The version I have of all 5 is Haydn's transcription for flute and oboe that he made for London (by Haydn Sinfonietta Wien / Huss. Superb!) ...

Well, then it is decided, I will buy this set:

[DavidW]

Oh I lost track of this thread!   The lira on those reissued vox recordings sounds like a small organ, I liked the sound from it, very musical.  I might look into Gurn's rec in the future.

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, then it is decided, I will buy this set:

That's a hard box to dislike, Antoine. I don't have it, rather, I have the individual disks that make it up, on Koch/Schwann. I spent a long time finding (and affording) these long OOP disks, and had no more than gotten a modest accumulation when BIS released that box.     Hopefully they will also release the divertimentos in a box like that!   




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Listening to:
Das neue Orchester \ Spering - Op 125 Symphony #9 in d 1st mvmt - Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso

[jlaurson]

Review of op.17 (Festetics, London HQ, Kodaly, Buchberger, Auryn) up on WETA.

Haydn 2009 – The String Quartets (Part 3) Op.17 What is true for op.9 ("Like all quartets before op.33, they get short shrift—like all quartets of Haydn that get short shrift, they're still superb. [F]or the ambitious Haydn lover, they're joyously requisite listening...") is equally true of op.17... http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=856

[karlhenning]

Longing for those days when there was a superfluous e in Haydn 

[Gurn Blanston]

Review of op.17 (Festetics, London HQ, Kodaly, Buchberger, Auryn) up on WETA.

Haydn 2009 – The String Quartets (Part 3) Op.17 What is true for op.9 ("Like all quartets before op.33, they get short shrift—like all quartets of Haydn that get short shrift, they're still superb. [F]or the ambitious Haydn lover, they're joyously requisite listening...") is equally true of op.17... http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=856

More interesting was your review of various "7 Last Words...". Since, of the 4 versions available, after extensive listening I chose exactly the same recordings you did (Savall, Harnoncourt & Brautigam (that's scary! )), I guess I'll have to give the Leipzig group a try in the string quartet version. Have they done other of Haydn's quartets? I can't recall seeing them around...

[DavidW]

Your survey was quite carefully, politically if you will, written Jens.  Your opinion is asserted but not brazenly so, hard to find anything to criticize.   Well if I work at it...

[Lethevich]

Jens - thanks for the positive reviews of the London Haydn Quartet's recordings - all the hideous feedback had put me off, but they sound like my kind of thing. Slow in Haydn can be fine, as long as there is enough detail to merit that playlength, and this group seems to deliver something individual.

[DarkAngel]

Also did not neglect solo keyboard works............I already had the wonderful Brautigam set, added two more to that!

Having great time going through these sonatas.......but I could not resist the "deconstruction" of musical notions
of what Haydn should sound like, yes I have ordered Glenn Gould's sonatas. I have his Mozart sonatas so I am already a fan, others find him maddening and to purists he is a heretic

[SonicMan46]

Trio 1790. It's 9 disks, volume 8 is a double.

I'll also vouch for the Trio 1790 - don't have them in the HaydnPiano Trios (own two other groups mentioned previously), but their recordings of the Bach Brothers, CPE & JC and of Dussek's works are just excellent! 

[Gurn Blanston]

Having great time going through these sonatas.......but I could not resist the "deconstruction" of musical notions
of what Haydn should sound like, yes I have ordered Glenn Gould's sonatas. I have his Mozart sonatas so I am already a fan, others find him maddening and to purists he is a heretic

Well, do let us know what your results are. You will certainly have some background to compare it all too.



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Listening to:
Quatuor Festetics - Hob 03 81 Quartet in G for Strings Op 77 #1 2nd mvmt - Adagio