Haydn's Haus

[TheGSMoeller]

In the interest of gender equality,  the male Minettis seem rather hunky looking (not that I'm inclined that way, so perhaps my judgment is off).

And since the price is even more attractive than the performers,  I'm ordering it in another tab of my browser as I post this.

I'm more impressed with the ultra shiny and un-damaged lockers, not what I was used to in school.

[kishnevi]

I'm more impressed with the ultra shiny and un-damaged lockers, not what I was used to in school.

Given the babe/buff content of the cover,  probably fitness club lockers.

In my high school,  we had banged up red painted lockers approximately one foot high by one foot wide by one foot deep.

[Madiel]

I recommend the Tokyo Quartet in Op. 50.

http://www.amazon.com/Haydn-Preussische-Quartette-Prussian-Quartets/dp/B001KW976A

As did the results of the blind listening test!

[Madiel]

In the interest of gender equality,  the male Minettis seem rather hunky looking (not that I'm inclined that way, so perhaps my judgment is off).

As one so inclined, cello boy's got promise.  I'll pass on the viola though, thanks.

[Sergeant Rock]

....the two violin babes

In the interest of gender equality,  the male Minettis seem rather hunky looking (not that I'm inclined that way, so perhaps my judgment is off).

I'm more impressed with the ultra shiny and un-damaged lockers

As one so inclined, cello boy's got promise.

The perfect quartet recording! It has something for everyone    The music ain't half bad either 

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Bah, who cares about the music when you've got the image? Just ask Golijov.

[jlaurson]

That's damning them with faint praise, IMO - and don't know what you mean by 'on the same label as the Minetti Quartet". 

...and am glad there is a period performance of this neglected opus number ...

1.) By which I mean: On the same label. (Haenssler Classics)
2.) If Meta4 is a period performance, err... well, can't find an analogy. But they are definitely not HIP.
3.) I, too, am looking forward to more from them.

I had praise for them and their Haydn, albeit mild, three years ago in this forum.

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3866.msg321846.html#msg321846

The label for which META 4 have recorded their Haydn is Haenssler Classics. Of course Amazon's listing is so shitty again, that you can't find it unless you modify the German URL accordingly.

[It's not audacious, per se... not in the Haydn anniversary year. And it's been done by the Jerusalem Quartet, the Minetti Quartet, Quatuor Ebene... (all fantastic recordings, btw.) and yet, in a subtle way, it's daring just because Haydn isn't a smash hit, usually, and op.55 least of all.


Haydn, String Quartets op.55
META 4
Haenssler Classic
That's the link for the US.

The link for the UK is here, for France here, for Germany here.

It's very good stuff, if not quite as immediately outstanding as the Mintetti Quartet disc. I've only so far compared it to the Buchberger and Kodaly and it's not a flattering comparison for the latter, I'm afraid... but if to chose among Buchberger and Kodaly in op.55, I'd prefer the Kodaly, still, by a small margin. With the Buchberger they just sound like complete run-throughs.

Why haven't Quatuor Mosaiques not recorded those yet? 

[Leon]

2.) If Meta4 is a period performance, err... well, can't find an analogy. But they are definitely not HIP.

I know that now; but I had read that they used "ancient instruments", thinking it meant PI, in a review but after listening to them more and visiting their website discovered that the original reviewer had offered some misinformation. 

Still, it's a good recording of some Haydn string quartets which seem to be the ugly step child for some reason; most undeservedly I might add.

I don't share your preference for the Minetti, which are also good, but I felt the META4 group brought more verve to their performances.

[jlaurson]

... the original reviewer had offered some misinformation. 

Not so much misinformation, if I read it right, than misleading irrelevant information...

[snyprrr]

Did Haydn really use his nose for that middle note?

[snyprrr]

OK, I'll bite -- which Haydn quartets/artists would you recommend?

You can probably get the Tokyo MP3 in Op.50, but otherwise, the Nomos on CPO IS the coco bop!! Accept no alternatives!

[North Star]

Quatuor Mosaiques on period instruments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCXg8xo31h0
[asin]B001F0JZZU[/asin]
[asin]B001F0K004[/asin]

[George]

The Tatrai Quartet recordings on Hungaroton should satisfy you - modern instruments and top-rate traditional performances.

Strongly seconded. 

[Leon]

After the strong endorsement from the Haydn Op. 50 blind listening thread, I ordered the Tokyo String Quartet performance on CD-R from Archiv Music.  It arrived today and I am listening to it as I type.

Arkiv Music did a splendid job with their reproduction and must have some kind of licensing deal with DG since they have flawlessly reproduced all the artwork including the disc itself and booklet.  Well worth the $21 it set me back for an otherwise OOP recording.

[Uncle Connie]

As one so inclined, cello boy's got promise.  I'll pass on the viola though, thanks.

Sorry, my elder son already put in his claim on the cellist.  Of course, the cellist doesn't know it, and my son lives in Hollywood, not where the Minettis are, and my son doesn't like classical, but.... 

As for the ladies, I'm 68 years old.  Fantasies are wonderful, but let's leave it at that, okay?

[Peregrine]

I see no reason to change my mind at the moment!

My current picks would be:

Op.20 - Tatrai/Juilliard
Op.33 - Apponyi
Op.50 - Amati
Op.54 - Juilliard
Op.55 - Panocha
Op.64 - Caspar Da Solo
Op.71 - Griller
Op.74 - Griller
Op.76 - Carmina (honorary mentions to Panocha and Tatrai)
Op.77 - Tatrai

Could get into individual quartets, but that could take some time...!

[Uncle Connie]

Further to the brief discussion that I instigated about the following:


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I discovered it's very easy to find out just what of the Haydn mass is omitted, if this matters to anyone.  Just click "purchase MP3" on Amazon (you don't of course have to actually buy anything) and you get a list of the tracks.  Armed with that and one of the complete versions, I have learned thus:

Minkowski gives us the Kyrie complete, the Gloria complete; then omits the first section of the Credo but does give us the Et incarnatus and (the spell-binder of the whole mass) the Et resurrexit.  He then omits the remainder, the Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus and Dona nobis.  So in the end we get about 40 minutes of what would have been, at his speeds, about 65 for the whole thing.  Or, to put it another way, we get 13 of what is usually 18 tracks.  No real choice I suppose but to chop something, as each of the 2 discs of the set adds up to about 75 min.  Even better, find some other work besides Handel and Purcell that actually had something to do with St. Cecilia - the Haydn is a mistaken attribution - and then give us Haydn complete, on a single disc by itself.

Grump grump. 

That said, because I've become quite the completist for this Mass, I think I'm going to go ahead and download the Haydn sections (I have no interest in Handel or Purcell), for a cost of about $13 but that's considerably cheaper than buying the set physically.  What little I can hear in the thirty-second snippets they offer sounds quite well done indeed.     

[Gurn Blanston]

Interesting, Conrad. Hope you share your reaction to hearing the entire (as it were).

On the subject of masses, a topic that came up during the essay series, which drew only blank stares from the assembled masses but which did and still does fascinate me, is the subject of other, heretofore believed to be secular, work being played during the mass, and how that all worked. That was a hell of a sentence, wasn't it?

Anyway, I have been doing some research ever since then and this weekend I will have a little bit to contribute to that. Not a lot, mind you, and I am hoping that someone else may have found something too. I am also trying to put together a reasonably accurate reconstruction that will enable any Haydnisto to be able to listen in a sequence such as it was then. Possibly both a Missa brevis and a Solemn Mass, which would of course differ substantially.

[kishnevi]

Interesting, Conrad. Hope you share your reaction to hearing the entire (as it were).

On the subject of masses, a topic that came up during the essay series, which drew only blank stares from the assembled masses but which did and still does fascinate me, is the subject of other, heretofore believed to be secular, work being played during the mass, and how that all worked. That was a hell of a sentence, wasn't it?

Anyway, I have been doing some research ever since then and this weekend I will have a little bit to contribute to that. Not a lot, mind you, and I am hoping that someone else may have found something too. I am also trying to put together a reasonably accurate reconstruction that will enable any Haydnisto to be able to listen in a sequence such as it was then. Possibly both a Missa brevis and a Solemn Mass, which would of course differ substantially.

Aren't Mozart's Church/Epistle sonatas an example of that type?  I notice that the Neumann set of Mozart masses puts the sonatas in the middle of various masses, and not separate performed.

Of course, it did strike me last night that to have a truly HIP performance of a Bach cantata, you'd need a Lutheran minister giving a sermon in the middle of the cantata.

[Gurn Blanston]

Aren't Mozart's Church/Epistle sonatas an example of that type?  I notice that the Neumann set of Mozart masses puts the sonatas in the middle of various masses, and not separate performed.

Of course, it did strike me last night that to have a truly HIP performance of a Bach cantata, you'd need a Lutheran minister giving a sermon in the middle of the cantata.

Yes, indeed they are. And they were the easy ones, since we know they go between the epistle and the gospel.   But in addition to these, also there were being used concertos and symphonies. These, at first blush, are a bit harder to insert. However, I have gathered a bit of info.

Wow, Neumann did that? That's wonderful. I had figured out which sonatas went with which masses quite some time ago and done that on my own. Haydn will be more challenging, but do-able, I think.

Boy, I'm glad it's you that likes Bach.