Haydn's Haus

[EigenUser]

That may work when one is a twentysomething, or thirty, forty...but at 60 I don't think it will fool anyone...not that a comb over fools anyone either, except one's self 

Sarge

Well, that's the only person you have to fool.

[Gurn Blanston]

Perhaps because it's in profile, but that does not actually look like the portraits I'm most familiar with.   The nose seems too beaklike, for one thing.

Yep, that's actually him though. If one of you lads hadn't turned it up, I was going to scan it out of one of my books. What a beauty! 

[North Star]

I should forgo the comb over then? 

Sarge

I found a picture of you, Sarge!

[Sergeant Rock]

I found a picture of you, Sarge!

That's the future me...in 20 years    Right now I look more like this, with a beard not quite so unruly.




Sarge

[Brahmsian]

That's the future me...in 20 years    Right now I look more like this, with a beard not quite so unruly.




Sarge

Cool!    Here I was envisioning a picture of Sergeant Rock with a comb over. 

[EigenUser]

So, it turns out that the "Joseph Haydn Werke" volume that I have is priced at 90 euros (around $150, I believe) by the publisher G. Henle Verlag. Furthermore, I couldn't find out where to purchase it online (all it said was "visit your local music store"). I paid $14.

I had no idea when I bought it! I just got it because I've been interested in Haydn recently, it looked important, and it was cheap.

[Gurn Blanston]

So, it turns out that the "Joseph Haydn Werke" volume that I have is priced at 90 euros (around $150, I believe) by the publisher G. Henle Verlag. Furthermore, I couldn't find out where to purchase it online (all it said was "visit your local music store"). I paid $14.

I had no idea when I bought it! I just got it because I've been interested in Haydn recently, it looked important, and it was cheap.

Sometimes you just get lucky.   When I was shopping for "Chronicle & Works" which has been out of print for a long time, I was finding prices that ran from $150 to $800/volume! So I was looking at a Marketplace ad for Volume 1 (of 5) which I had been interested in more than the others. It was $500! But as I got to the end of the ad, it had one of those little "more..." things you click on, so I did. Lo and behold, the last sentence said 'price is for the entire 5 volume set'!!  Needless to say, I didn't waste a lot of time with self-recrimination, the fact my birthday was the next week was sufficient justification. The box was actually delivered on my birthday!   0:)

Sometimes you just get lucky.

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, this has certainly taken a while, I hope you guys haven't forgotten me! But it was a productive week, I managed to discover an interesting thing or two about the symphonies of 1773, and I hope you will find them so, too. If you will, have a look. As always, delighted to discuss either the works, the essay, or anything else Haydn!

Goodbye S&D, hello Broadway!

Thanks,

[Mandryka]

It's very familiar music,nothing more familiar in fact, but Hadjimarkos is good and imaginative and I think this is well worth checking out. I got to know her through some outstanding Schubert, and I just noticed she's recorded some CPEB "character pieces"

Either the performance or the instrument or both makes the music more deep emotionally and more dramatic to me.

She's very imaginative in using rhythmic rubato, always very naturally, and that really increases the music's eloquence. I like it, but I just wonder, as a question of history, just how appropriate that is for music of this period,  especially on an instrument where you can accentuate using dynamics, and where (I think) the performer can effect timbre and "attack"  and volume. Anyway I don't suppose it matters, anyone who listens to harpsichord will appreciate her rubato I think. I would be surprised to hear someone playing like her on a piano.

It also raises questions about the emotional content of the music, which I remember discussing here with respect to Beghin's perfrmance of the F minor variations. Beghin's way bumpier than Hadjimarkos (at least in Hob16/20 - he uses a clavichord for that one too), totally different styles. Surely they can't both be HIP -- or can they? Beghin's way of playing is much less familiar sounding to me -- less like baroque harpsichord performances.

[Gurn Blanston]

It's very familiar music,nothing more familiar in fact, but Hadjimarkos is good and imaginative and I think this is well worth checking out. I got to know her through some outstanding Schubert, and I just noticed she's recorded some CPEB "character pieces"

Either the performance or the instrument or both makes the music more deep emotionally and more dramatic to me.

She's very imaginative in using rhythmic rubato, always very naturally, and that really increases the music's eloquence. I like it, but I just wonder, as a question of history, just how appropriate that is for music of this period,  especially on an instrument where you can accentuate using dynamics, and where (I think) the performer can effect timbre and "attack"  and volume. Anyway I don't suppose it matters, anyone who listens to harpsichord will appreciate her rubato I think. I would be surprised to hear someone playing like her on a piano.

It also raises questions about the emotional content of the music, which I remember discussing here with respect to Beghin's performance of the F minor variations. Beghin's way bumpier than Hadjimarkos (at least in Hob16/20 - he uses a clavichord for that one too), totally different styles. Surely they can't both be HIP -- or can they? Beghin's way of playing is much less familiar sounding to me -- less like baroque harpsichord performances.

Oh, I really like that disk! It was my first purely clavichord disk, and made a nice impression on me. The player of a clavichord seems able to affect the sound to a far greater degree than on any other instrument I've heard.

[asin]B000EQHTBS[/asin]

Beghin plays the f minor variations on a 1791 (copy) fortepiano, so not a lot of matching up can be done there. I find his style on all of the keyboard instruments to be less legato than virtually anyone else (except Semmerjian playing Mozart on fortepiano, cut from the same mold). By the end of the century, staccato playing had given way to legato as the generation which learned to play on harpsichord, like Mozart, began to die off. I think the clavichord is less staccato than the harpsichord, but it lends itself to rubato more, and a good player will take advantage of it to help add some individuality to the piece. Mozart himself did it (IIRC, he wrote "but you can only do it (steal time, he called it) with your right hand, your left hand must be steady"). Hadjimarkos does it very well.

FYI - She plays the fortepiano in this disk, and is more legato, although I don't know if it the instrument she is playing or else the need to do that because she is accompanying a singer. This is a nice disk, too.

[asin]B004JWWSUA[/asin]

[Gurn Blanston]

Been a little while since we talked about new CD's. I have gotten a modest number lately, mostly based on recommendations from fellow Haydnistos. Here they are:



The final disk of the Hsu series. Like the other three, they are very nicely done. You just don't hear anything about the Apollo Ensemble, not in the US anyway, and not even by the people you would expect to know about them. They can play very well though, in the same vein as L'Estro Armonico, to my ears.



A couple of weeks ago Torut posted a chamber ensemble version of a London symphony. In the ensuing discussion Sarge pointed out these two disks, which I snapped up at a bargain price (right place, right time!). As is often the case, Sarge was right on. The particular combination of instruments which Salomon specified makes for the most nicely balanced ensemble you can think of. I think I have a use for these down the road.




No recommendation on this one, I just really like their 'Creation' and thought I would have a go at their 'Seasons'. One of the reviews called it "willful"; how could I refuse? 




In a long ago discussion with El Gordo, and a more recent one with Pat B., the subject of Tuma came up in this work. I have been a long time getting around to it but finally have it on my player as I write this. Very nice! The Immerseel was brought to my attention by Pat B. as well and I found it just sitting there waiting for me. I like Immerseel's style in everything I have heard from him, and he doesn't disappoint here.

I am at the point with my collection that finding new CD's of PI performances pretty much has to wait for the occasional release, but rec's from kindred spirits and the occasional bit of luck can pay off too! 

[torut]

That Arco Baleno disc is really refreshing. I purchased the disc of Symphonies No. 94/98/100 and love it so much. I am going to get the other one.
The recordings of the Salomon's arrangements and string trios are one of the best recent discoveries for me regarding Haydn's music.

[Pat B]

In a long ago discussion with El Gordo, and a more recent one with Pat B., the subject of Tuma came up in this work. I have been a long time getting around to it but finally have it on my player as I write this. Very nice! The Immerseel was brought to my attention by Pat B. as well and I found it just sitting there waiting for me. I like Immerseel's style in everything I have heard from him, and he doesn't disappoint here.

Whew! Glad you enjoyed the Immerseel. I was a bit nervous to have instigated your purchase since I hadn't actually heard it (aside from samples).

[Gurn Blanston]

Whew! Glad you enjoyed the Immerseel. I was a bit nervous to have instigated your purchase since I hadn't actually heard it (aside from samples).

  Actually, I benefit most from knowing something I am interested in actually exists. Liking or not liking is such a personal decision, I feel badly when someone hates one of my recs, but I sleep well anyway.   I liked both of those; IIRC you were trying to decide. Either way is a winner, I think.

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, this has certainly taken a while, I hope you guys haven't forgotten me! But it was a productive week, I managed to discover an interesting thing or two about the symphonies of 1773, and I hope you will find them so, too. If you will, have a look. As always, delighted to discuss either the works, the essay, or anything else Haydn!

Goodbye S&D, hello Broadway!

Thanks,

I'll bounce it up since many of the symphonically inclined have been on holiday.

[Wakefield]

I guess Lubimov is the next goal:


http://www.youtube.com/v/gKci9AKHUsU

I love how Haydn writes "Grave e Cantabile" and Lubimov exactly plays this way.   

[Gurn Blanston]

I guess Lubimov is the next goal:


http://www.youtube.com/v/gKci9AKHUsU

I love how Haydn writes "Grave e Cantabile" and Lubimov exactly plays this way. 

Ah, it's to be released tomorrow! No wonder I can scarcely keep up!  I have some Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart by Lubimov and am always pleased with his efforts, so this one is already in the basket, awaiting circumstances. I would be richer yet poorer without your fine efforts, mi amigo. 

[Gurn Blanston]

I guess Lubimov is the next goal:


I love how Haydn writes "Grave e Cantabile" and Lubimov exactly plays this way. 

That is the most full-sounding Tangentenflügel I've ever heard! Interesting sounding instrument, I hope the liner notes discuss it a bit.

[Wakefield]

[asin]B004JWWSUA[/asin]

Is Mrs. Kirby at her usual (charming) level here, Gurn? I mean I have read her voice sounds a bit tired in her last recordings. Did you have this impression here? Obviously, it's a very enticing disk.

[Gurn Blanston]

Is Mrs. Kirby at her usual (charming) level here, Gurn? I mean I have read her voice sounds a bit tired in her last recordings. Did you have this impression here? Obviously, it's a very enticing disk.

Gordo,
I am no expert on voices, the only thing I've heard about it conceptually is a tendency to 'vibrato' when it wasn't intended to be, and perhaps a lack of range or power. If those are the telling signs, I must say that here she is as rock-steady as every, and since these songs and canzonettas don't require the range of, say, Mozart's c minor mass, one can't use that criterion usefully. I have a whole lot of versions of these songs by a wide range of vocal stylists, and she more than holds her own here. Hadjimarkos is a fine accompanist, too.