Haydn's Haus

[Karl Henning]

The Allegro di molto of the B^b Sonata on Beghin's disc 10 (I think it is) sounds wonderfully like The Best Banjo Sonata in the World.

[Gurn Blanston]

The Allegro di molto of the B^b Sonata on Beghin's disc 10 (I think it is) sounds wonderfully like The Best Banjo Sonata in the World.

  Ah yes, on Program 8, Hob 16:41. I can just hear Bela Fleck cranking that one out! That's a most unusual sounding instrument, isn't it? I would have though Tangentenflügel on first hearing.

[Octave]

re: late piano trios by Levin/Beths/Bylsma:

This is the only trio disc I own, it's wonderful. I'm sure I'm missing some good recordings, and other good trios.

[......]but the complete Trio 1790 set is available here and there for $50. I paid full price for each disk as it was released  (a hell of a lot more than $50!!) and have not a single regret. You would then have a very fine version of each piece that would enable you to know what to look for if you want to hear other expressions. Just sayin'...

Gurn, do you know the Eisenstadt piano trios?  I guess not, because you tend to stick to HIP recordings for Haydn, correct?  Have you already weighed in on the relative merits of the Trio 1790 vs. Van Swieten Trio?  I will almost certainly be getting the Big Brilliant Box, with the Van Swietens' recordings; but if the Trio 1790 set is worth the expenditure, I might get that, too.  I'm afraid I approach overkill here, even as wonderful as this repertoire is. 
For my own part, I loved that Levin/Beths/Bylsma, but enjoyed the recent recordings in the Eisenstadt box so much (with some time already spent with the whole Beaux Arts box by library), I only felt the need to get the Pentatone 2sacd late trios collection of the BAT's recordings, just to have a large sample of their beautiful refined playing, and also to try out the allegedly-much-better Pentatone mastering.  (Have not a direct A/B, but the Pentatone discs sound really fine.)  The other reason I chose the Eisenstadt, beside its reputation, was its rarity; I was lucky to scoop up a new copy for $34 after it had disappeared entirely from Amazon availability for a while.  The Amazon-MP vendor was FabulousCD, so maybe this means Abeille might still have a few sitting around that they'd part with for ethical prices?

[Gurn Blanston]

re: late piano trios by Levin/Beths/Bylsma:
Gurn, do you know the Eisenstadt piano trios?  I guess not, because you tend to stick to HIP recordings for Haydn, correct?  Have you already weighed in on the relative merits of the Trio 1790 vs. Van Swieten Trio?  I will almost certainly be getting the Big Brilliant Box, with the Van Swietens' recordings; but if the Trio 1790 set is worth the expenditure, I might get that, too.  I'm afraid I approach overkill here, even as wonderful as this repertoire is. 
For my own part, I loved that Levin/Beths/Bylsma, but enjoyed the recent recordings in the Eisenstadt box so much (with some time already spent with the whole Beaux Arts box by library), I only felt the need to get the Pentatone 2sacd late trios collection of the BAT's recordings, just to have a large sample of their beautiful refined playing, and also to try out the allegedly-much-better Pentatone mastering.  (Have not a direct A/B, but the Pentatone discs sound really fine.)  The other reason I chose the Eisenstadt, beside its reputation, was its rarity; I was lucky to scoop up a new copy for $34 after it had disappeared entirely from Amazon availability for a while.  The Amazon-MP vendor was FabulousCD, so maybe this means Abeille might still have a few sitting around that they'd part with for ethical prices?

I have heard a disk from their set. I would rate it ahead of BAT for quality overall, despite that I like BAT a lot; Eisenstadt has adopted many HIP playing techniques which work well for them. Not much you can do with a grand piano though.    If I didn't have so many versions of these works already, I would have picked up that set anyway simply because of the quality.

As for the Van Sweiten/Trio 1790, the major difference of course is that the pre-1780 trios are played on harpsichord on the Trio 1790 set. And I'm just eccentric enough to appreciate that, I think it is a turnoff for a lot of people (and would have been for me as recently as 5 or 6 years ago).  Playing-wise, I am a big fan of Harald Hören, the keyboardist for Trio 1790, I think he is among the smoothest players out there. As you know, some of these trios have incredibly virtuosic fast passages, and Hören tosses them off so easily it is uncanny. Not that I don't also appreciate my old favorite the Bartster, but in this rep, I think he is outdone. If you can find a used copy of Vol. 1 for a few bucks, give it a try and see what you think. None of this is to say that I don't like the Van Sweiten's efforts though. I'm delighted to have that set. 

[Octave]

Thanks for that response, I'm interested already.  I'm hoping Deepdiscount has another sale covering CPO in the spring/summer; if the discounts are deep enough, I might go crazy and get that 1790 set.  I do love these pieces...I don't know why I would hesitate accumulating them in a way that I might not with Schubert.  It is the Romantic prejudice!  A blight, Gurn.

[Gurn Blanston]

Thanks for that response, I'm interested already.  I'm hoping Deepdiscount has another sale covering CPO in the spring/summer; if the discounts are deep enough, I might go crazy and get that 1790 set.  I do love these pieces...I don't know why I would hesitate accumulating them in a way that I might not with Schubert.  It is the Romantic prejudice!  A blight, Gurn.

Well, I share your hesitation. I have multiple recorditis syndrome (MRS) for only a very few composers; Haydn (anything and everything on PI), Mozart, and Beethoven's 9th. Everything else (and there is a lot of that) is limited to 1 or 2 recordings each. If I'm not mistaken, I have more Mozart than Haydn... I know, sad.

[Mandryka]

For what it's worth, my favourite trio recordings are:

Top tier - all equally good maybe

Oistrakh-Oborin-Knushevitsky
The ones with Gilels
The ones with Levin
The ones with Jerome Hantai
Casals-Thibaud-Cortot
Szymon Goldberg and Lilli Kraus and  Anthony Pini


And slightly less wonderful I think, but a good varied selection

Janigro/Fornier/Badura Skoda

And MAYBE (can't make up my mind)

Trio Wanderer (this has grown on me with repeated listening for sure)
Schiff/Shiokawa/Pergamenschikow

Of all of these the one which stand out the most are the ones with Oistrakh-Oborin-Knushevitsky

[Mandryka]

I'll try to listen to Savall's 7 words soon, I've never heard it, but I can get it through spotify. I have the one with Accentus, but the one which left the most impact on me was Scherchen's despite the less than top - drawer singers and orchestra, he was really inspired in the performance. I've never really gotten into the non-choral versions.

Tonight I'll listen to Shostakovich's 15th quartet, which I guess was influenced by 7 words.

[Gurn Blanston]

Interesting choices!  Aside from the Levin and Trio Wanderer, I have not heard these others, but will definitely look for them all. 

Mostly I find myself gravitating towards period instruments and have not paid much attention to older recordings - but there are some really good musicians represented on these trios.  I am especially interested in the Gilels set that includes a lot of music besides Haydn.

The Hantai is very nice too;



Haven't heard the others though, except Levin, of course. I like Trio Wanderer in later works, I can easily imagine them doing very worthwhile performances here too.

[TheGSMoeller]

Two questions (well, one question, one comment looking for answers) for the Haus-mates.

1. I need some good recommendations for some Op.77 PI string quartets, other than Quatuor Mosaiques.


2. Are these the same recordings by Quatuor Mosaiques? I was listening to Op.77 last night and my Mosaiques disc is skipping on several spots  so I may need to replace it.




Thanks!

[Karl Henning]

Very much enjoyed your review, O Gurn.

[Gurn Blanston]

Two questions (well, one question, one comment looking for answers) for the Haus-mates.

1. I need some good recommendations for some Op.77 PI string quartets, other than Quatuor Mosaiques.


2. Are these the same recordings by Quatuor Mosaiques? I was listening to Op.77 last night and my Mosaiques disc is skipping on several spots  so I may need to replace it.




Thanks!

Wow, that sucks. Anyway, yes, they are the same recordings, the orange one being the original.

I'll let someone else have a crack at the recommendation, then if you don't see something you like I'll toss in a couple. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Very much enjoyed your review, O Gurn.

Thanks, Karl. I got that DVD at BRO for peanuts. It was worth macadamias, at least! 

[TheGSMoeller]

Wow, that sucks. Anyway, yes, they are the same recordings, the orange one being the original.

I'll let someone else have a crack at the recommendation, then if you don't see something you like I'll toss in a couple. 

Thanks, Gurn. Any difference in quality? Remastering of any sort?

[Gurn Blanston]

Thanks, Gurn. Any difference in quality? Remastering of any sort?

I don't know, Greg, I didn't have the older version of that one. I got them when they were re-released with those newer covers. My guess would be that they were not remastered; they weren't that old (1989, IIRC & DDD) to start with. I think they only do that with ADD don't they? 

[Gurn Blanston]

It could be your CD is a bad one and could be replaced without the problem. Mine plays fine.  But, as far as other recordings, I'd suggest the Festetics but their recordings are hard to find.  Easier to find, and also very good is the L'Archibudelli recording of the Last Three String Quartets.

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OK, now my backup rec is out in the open....

[Gurn Blanston]

I also meant to include the Schuppanzigh Quartet's recording, but which only has Op. 77, No. 1:

Yes, such a shame about them. I like the idea of having a couple of disks with quartets from all different opuses, but at best they just whet your appetite for more of their playing, which is very sympathetic to Haydn's music. Inside the digipak for disk 2 there was a picture of Vol 3, which even had a catalog number assigned, but in the event it was never released. 

[Gurn Blanston]

I have purchased this one just the other day, but not received it yet so I can't comment;

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Alea Ensemble are PI, and I read a couple reviews of it about 2 months ago that were very favorable. They are new to me though so I don't know their style at all.

[TheGSMoeller]

Big thanks to S.A. and Gurn for the recs, I've seen those discs online, will definitely check them out.

[Karl Henning]

I have purchased this one just the other day, but not received it yet so I can't comment;

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Alea Ensemble are PI, and I read a couple reviews of it about 2 months ago that were very favorable. They are new to me though so I don't know their style at all.

The sample clips sound very nice.