Haydn's Haus

[mc ukrneal]

I've been listening to the Brilliant set of Haydn, going through the Baryton works now. Man, it's like discovering a new moon orbiting around an already rich planet of diversity and color! Haydn's Baryton output is vast, like his symphonies or quartets. So much to explore

It's dirty work, but someone's gotta do it!

[Gurn Blanston]

I've been listening to the Brilliant set of Haydn, going through the Baryton works now. Man, it's like discovering a new moon orbiting around an already rich planet of diversity and color! Haydn's Baryton output is vast, like his symphonies or quartets. So much to explore

A lot of people aren't greatly enthusiastic about the baryton trios, and I suspect it has to do with their overall rather more somber than jolly outlook. I listen to maybe 12-15 a week, spaced out so they don't overwhelm me. The music itself is all the things that modernists say is big in their music, and tonal besides. Glad that you like them; clearly, so do I.

[Gurn Blanston]

Huh. Unrelated to this thread, I've just watched that episode today.   

What show is that, Jens? I thought it was a hoot, it certainly hit on my own interests.

[Karl Henning]

A lot of people aren't greatly enthusiastic about the baryton trios, and I suspect it has to do with their overall rather more somber than jolly outlook. I listen to maybe 12-15 a week, spaced out so they don't overwhelm me. The music itself is all the things that modernists say is big in their music, and tonal besides. Glad that you like them; clearly, so do I.

Dunno. Somber tone of itself does not dissuade (e.g.) this Shostakovich enthusiast : ). I enjoy the baryton works, but I'm not mad keen on them...perhaps they're a 5 on my scale of 7.

[jlaurson]

What show is that, Jens? I thought it was a hoot, it certainly hit on my own interests.

QI -- soon becoming one of the longest running panel shows in the UK, with Stephen Fry at the helm (and his "dim alter ego", Alan Davies... the foil of the show), where he's having a lark trying to squeeze as much comedy out of quite interesting facts of life and science and such, with a panel of changing, assorted (but ever repeating) comedians. More addictive than great, but always good fun.

[Gurn Blanston]

QI -- soon becoming one of the longest running panel shows in the UK, with Stephen Fry at the helm (and his "dim alter ego", Alan Davies... the foil of the show), where he's having a lark trying to squeeze as much comedy out of quite interesting facts of life and science and such, with a panel of changing, assorted (but ever repeating) comedians. More addictive than great, but always good fun.

Aha! I thought the QI was short for something, not the whole lot. Yes, it appears exactly as you describe, which is just the sort of entertainment value I long for from television but which has long since disappeared over here. Except on BBC America, of course.

Thanks,

[Gurn Blanston]

Dunno. Somber tone of itself does not dissuade (e.g.) this Shostakovich enthusiast : ). I enjoy the baryton works, but I'm not mad keen on them...perhaps they're a 5 on my scale of 7.

I believe it dissuades in large doses though, Karl. But if you play 3 or 4 at a time and then move on, they don't become at all oppressive, rather they just change the pace momentarily. Also, there is no soprano instrument, it would be a stretch to call the baryton and viola an alto in these works. It all adds up, I think, since people's expectations have been largely molded differently.

[kishnevi]

The most famous of them being The Headless Horseman, no doubt. 

More likely, the poor conscripts who were Washington's targets when he made the famous crossing of the Delaware.

Actually, given that Sammartini essentially spent his life in Austrian ruled Milan,  one would have expected Haydn to play up the connection if he was motivated by political considerations--going for a faithful Italian Hapsburg subject instead of one of those Saxon heretics.

On another thread related note,  I got three CDs of the Kodaly SQ recordings today (op. 71, op. 77, op. 1).  At three dollars a CD, I decided it was worth giving them a second chance.  I've never been thrilled by their recording of Op. 76,

[Karl Henning]

I believe it dissuades in large doses though, Karl. But if you play 3 or 4 at a time and then move on, they don't become at all oppressive, rather they just change the pace momentarily. Also, there is no soprano instrument, it would be a stretch to call the baryton and viola an alto in these works. It all adds up, I think, since people's expectations have been largely molded differently.

I don't deny your considerations there, O Gurn.  And it is no real mark against the genre, that one can take perhaps three at a go.

[Gurn Blanston]

And it is no real mark against the genre, that one can take perhaps three at a go.

Yes indeed! There are a goodly number of things that I can't take 3 in a row of. 

[kishnevi]

Yes indeed! There are a goodly number of things that I can't take 3 in a row of. 

Not to mention the things which it's hard to take one in a row....

On thread duty: I'm listening to the Kodalys play Op. 71 now.  Much better impression than what I remembered of their Op. 76 (which I found stolid and rather drear--perhaps a revisit is in order if Op. 77 matches Op. 71).

[Gurn Blanston]

Not to mention the things which it's hard to take one in a row....

On thread duty: I'm listening to the Kodalys play Op. 71 now.  Much better impression than what I remembered of their Op. 76 (which I found stolid and rather drear--perhaps a revisit is in order if Op. 77 matches Op. 71).

Other than the Carmina's Op 76, the Kodaly's were my first taste of all the other Haydn quartets. It has been a long time since I pulled them off the shelf, being overrun as I am with string quartet recordings, but they were good enough to instill a love of the music in me that has never faded, and for that I am grateful. It is entirely possible that in every opus you can find a recording that surpasses, but as a set, I think they are a fine accomplishment.

[Opus106]

[QI] is just the sort of entertainment value I long for from television but which has long since disappeared over here. Except on BBC America, of course.

Thanks,

This reads almost like the typical top-rated comment beneath every episode available on YouTube. I've watched the whole thing, A-J (barring the last episode that's yet to air even in the UK), at least once, and most episodes more than once. It's become almost a daily ritual now, and it doesn't get old. 0:) There's also a documentary on how the show came to be.

[Gurn Blanston]

Arrived in today's post. I always get a warm fuzzy when I run across something that I didn't even know existed and it turns out to be top shelf.



This is the 12 canzonettas for Voice & Fortepiano, sung beautifully by Mhairi (that IS the Gaelic 'Mary', is it not?) and played by Olga Tverskaya. In addition are the other songs that qualify as canzonettas but didn't make the book, like 'The Lady's Looking Glass' and 'The Spirit's Song', as well as 'O Tuneful Voice', Haydn's setting of a poem that Ann Hunter wrote for him as a going away gift when he left England the final time. Finally, there are 4 Scottish and 1 Welsh folk songs, and these are accompanied (piano trio) by Tverskaya, Rachel Podger & Oleg Kogan. All in all a splendid disk, delighted to have tripped over it.

Extra bonus points if you can identify the painter of the cover picture (it's just a thumbnail of the entire).

[jlaurson]

Extra bonus points if you can identify the painter of the cover picture (it's just a thumbnail of the entire).

I'll go with Joshua Reynolds' "Cupid Undoing Venus' Dress"

(Booby-pics were where I paid the most attention in Renaissance Art 102.)

[Gurn Blanston]

I'll go with Joshua Reynolds' "Cupid Undoing Venus' Dress"

(Booby-pics were where I paid the most attention in Renaissance Art 102.)

And clearly it did you some permanent good! Yes indeed, Joshua Reynolds it is. I found the re-release of this disk once I knew what to look for, and to no one's surprise, it is cropped in a booby-free sort of way. Pity, really...

[Sergeant Rock]

Fey's volume 20 looks ready to be released. Nos. 43, 25 and 36

We finally have a release date. Two weeks from now.

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

And clearly it did you some permanent good! Yes indeed, Joshua Reynolds it is. I found the re-release of this disk once I knew what to look for, and to no one's surprise, it is cropped in a booby-free sort of way. Pity, really...

Tyranny against boobies!!!

[Karl Henning]

These look like they're free at last of the shackles . . . .

[TheGSMoeller]

We finally have a release date. Two weeks from now.

Sarge

Thanks for the heads up, Sarge. Will be pre-ordering...after I write the Hobbit Fey stressing the importance of recording more symphonies in the 70s-80s range.