Haydn's Haus

[Wakefield]

I checked and found instances of the noise on all 9CDs. 

I'm doing the same. Unfortunately, I don't have the physical set at hand, but I don't really understand how I didn't notice this before.

The playing itself is delightful and totally first rate. 

[George]

I'm doing the same. Unfortunately, I don't have the physical set at hand, but I don't really understand how I didn't notice this before.

Yes, you and many others somehow missed this. I read all over the internet before posting here.

The playing itself is delightful and totally first rate. 

Yes, and the sound is otherwise gorgeous.

[Wakefield]

Yes, you and many others somehow missed this. I read all over the internet before posting here.

I need to put my hands on the physical disks and to hear them through my principal system.

I don't expect to find something different (we are talking of digital technology), but I want to understand what happened some months ago.

[George]

Might be time to drop an email to Hännsler. 

Just did. I only hope that they wrote back in English. 

[George]

So is the Weil 7CD set of Symphonies still highly rated around these parts?

What about the London Symphonies? Who's tops there? I need a 101, 103 and 104. For the rest I have Szell and Walter.

[Gurn Blanston]

So is Weil still highly rated around these parts?

What about the London Symphonies? Who's tops there? I need a 101, 103 and 104. For the rest I have Szell and Walter.

Weil is hard to beat, although you won't find anything by him of those symphonies (not with Tafelmusik, anyway).

If I was recommending a disk with 101 & 104 (and an excellent 88 to go along with it, it would be this one, despite the fact it is one of the only PI Haydn symphonies disks ever to contend for a Grammy, I like it anyway:

[asin]B004YF8Y9G[/asin]

103 is a much less frequently recorded piece (why??). My choice is Kuijken, who is also very fine in all the London symphonies. As a set, his is the best. Of course, no one set can beat out 12 singles.

They are giving this away right now at $35 on AMP!!!

[asin]B000EBDCUA[/asin]

That's just my opinion, of course.   

[George]

Weil is hard to beat, although you won't find anything by him of those symphonies (not with Tafelmusik, anyway).

Sorry, my post should read: So is the Weil 7CD set of Symphonies still highly rated around these parts?

(I have read his readings are a bit bland or "surface," so I wanted to check here)

103 is a much less frequently recorded piece (why??). My choice is Kuijken, who is also very fine in all the London symphonies. As a set, his is the best. Of course, no one set can beat out 12 singles.

They are giving this away right now at $35 on AMP!!!

[asin]B000EBDCUA[/asin]

That's just my opinion, of course.   

Thanks!!!

[Gurn Blanston]

Sorry, my post should read: So is the Weil 7CD set of Symphonies still highly rated around these parts?

(I have read his readings are a bit bland or "surface," so I wanted to check here)

I don't know, depends who wrote it. I can say that about anything, you would have no way to know if I was full of shit or not. I have never, ever thought that Weil/Tafelmusik was either bland OR 'surface' (whatever that means, really). They consistently sound engaged and into it. I wouldn't trade my Weil disks for anything. Just sayin'...   0:)

[George]

I don't know, depends who wrote it. I can say that about anything, you would have no way to know if I was full of shit or not. I have never, ever thought that Weil/Tafelmusik was either bland OR 'surface' (whatever that means, really). They consistently sound engaged and into it. I wouldn't trade my Weil disks for anything. Just sayin'...   0:)

Good to know, thanks again!

[Pat B]

Thanks, Gurn!

Can you check this youtube link and tell me what you hear? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2BdQmdS_k

Even on computer speakers, in just the first minute, I hear the noise at the start (quietly), then louder at 6 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 45 seconds, 55 seconds and 1 minute.

I heard the one at :06 clearly, even through computer speakers with the dishwasher and air conditioner running. The one at :15 was harder to hear but still audible. I stopped after that.

The Tafelmusik symphony set is immaculately played and recorded. It's a convenient way to get the Paris symphonies plus 4 discs of middle-period ones. I am less enthusiastic about it after hearing Harnoncourt's fantastic Paris set -- but that may not matter to you if the middle-period symphonies are what you're after.

For the Londons, I haven't heard enough to make a recommendation. I recently got the Kuijken 103-104 disc but have not spun it yet.

[Jo498]

I checked one of the tracks, disc 2, track 2 from an E flat major without Hoboken number. I can hear something, especially around 3:00 but it is so soft and faint that I would probably not have noticed even with headphones. I remember that there might have been one audible "click"  when I listened to the set frequently over speakers a few months ago but I thought that had been a mechanical piano noise or something like that. With those extremely soft ones on said track I am not so sure. The do not sound like hitting a pedal, creaking chair and I would suspect that they might be post-production or "in-production". If this is the case, Haenssler cannot do anything about it. A new batch of discs will not help that and to (re)master the original recordings will certainly be too expensive.

As for the London symphonies: if you can find them (2 twofers), get Brüggen's. He is quite different from Weil's rather lean interpretations, but more interesting to my ears. Otherwise I second Kuijken for 103/104 (have not heard his 101). Vegh has a very good 101 on Orfeo. All three are rather frequently recorded, there are plenty of choices. (The first Haydn LP I heard was Dorati with 94/101.)

[Mandryka]

The problem with 101 is the minuet, you either need to skip a track or find a performer who plays it fast. Is this Haydn's longest minuet? The second movement can be extraordinary the way it builds in intensity, I want someone to play it in a manic psychedelic way.

Try Norrington (Haensler), and live Brüggen did it with real seriousness and weight - effective. I can't remember the studio recording.

I remember Rosbaud recorded a really good 104 commercially, and a more inspired one for radio with SWF . Did Harnoncourt record it on DVD with VCM? I have a vague memory but maybe it's just wishful thinking. The one with concertgebouw is outstanding.

For 103, one I've been enjoying quite recently is by Lonro von Matačić, and in the past I remember loving Markevitch and Brueggen. Scherchen's 103 is very quirky if I remember right, worth checking out. Same for Harnoncourt, whose drum is totally unforgettable.

[Jo498]

I think the one from 101 is the longest Menuet at least if you discount movements with several trios or chains of variations on a menuet themes. (The other candidate is the one from Mozart's quartet K 387 but I think it is a few bars shorter than the Haydn).
Traditional readings run to more than 8 min, sometimes making the menuet the longest movement of the symphony!
But it is a very good piece if played fast (and the flute solo makes more sense at fast tempo as a somewhat showy piece). Brüggen is good, also Harnoncourt (but he has an uncommonly slow finale many people do not like).

Rosbaud DG has a great and weighty 104 (but the menuet is too slow and the discmate, #92 is better, I think)

I think I also liked Harnoncourt's Concertgebouw 104 but I am not aware of a Concentus musicus DVD (only 92, I believe, with some vocal music with Bartoli)

For some reason, Brüggen, Harnoncourt, Fey also take the first movement of 104 rather slow and weighty. Harnoncourt and especially Fey take the Menuet here crazily fast and the Trio at half speed. I am not fond of this, especially Fey's is absurdly exaggerated. But the menuet (as well as the trio) should be rather fast (just not that fast), otherwise the humorous "breaks" in the phrases with some bars of rest inserted do not work so well.

[Karl Henning]

The problem with 101 is the minuet, you either need to skip a track or find a performer who plays it fast. Is this Haydn's longest minuet? The second movement can be extraordinary the way it builds in intensity, I want someone to play it in a manic psychedelic way.

But you're the guy who abhors personal liberties in performing 19^th-c. music, right?  I ask only for information.

[Gurn Blanston]

I have been quite tardy about finishing off the 'Chronology of the Symphonies' series, but I finally got to post the 6th and last bit tonight. If you are curious, here is a link:

Chronology of the London Symphonies

Thanks!

[Karl Henning]

I picked this up, used, for a song and it's one of those recordings that is so good it makes me feel like I must owe someone more money.  Arion's attack is so crisp, so lively and joyous and the engineering so present and resonant, I couldn't help but remember when - and why - Haydn was once my favorite composer.  Now that's something!    Some, likely most, will prefer larger forces in this repertoire; still, they should give this a listen if only to cleanse their listening palate and palette. I am wish listing other recordings by Arion.  [Sarge, I see you've heard this recording - whaddya' think?). 

[asin] B001OBT3LG[/asin]   

This looks very interesting . . . and, though I know the errors can seep in easily, and fixing them is not so much a possibility as quixotic speculation . . . .

[Karl Henning]

. . . quakuo ain't Italian, nohow.

[Madiel]

Why on earth are people objecting to having a long Menuet? I mean, if it's any good...

*checks notes* Yep, I've listened to no.101 in the course of my current Haydn late-symphony shuffle. I was in England. I don't remember thinking "gee, I wish this Menuet would hurry up and finish".

PS I went to check out the clicking youtube video and it told me it wasn't available. Odd.

[Gurn Blanston]

Why on earth are people objecting to having a long Menuet? I mean, if it's any good...

*checks notes* Yep, I've listened to no.101 in the course of my current Haydn late-symphony shuffle. I was in England. I don't remember thinking "gee, I wish this Menuet would hurry up and finish".

PS I went to check out the clicking youtube video and it told me it wasn't available. Odd.

  That's why I didn't comment. When it comes to Haydn, Mozart or Boccherini, I can't get enough minuet!   0:)

[Gurn Blanston]

This looks very interesting . . . and, though I know the errors can seep in easily, and fixing them is not so much a possibility as quixotic speculation . . . .

Quote from: ZauberdrachenNr.7 on July 07, 2015, 04:03:48 PM

    I picked this up, used, for a song and it's one of those recordings that is so good it makes me feel like I must owe someone more money.  Arion's attack is so crisp, so lively and joyous and the engineering so present and resonant, I couldn't help but remember when - and why - Haydn was once my favorite composer.  Now that's something!    Some, likely most, will prefer larger forces in this repertoire; still, they should give this a listen if only to cleanse their listening palate and palette. I am wish listing other recordings by Arion.  [Sarge, I see you've heard this recording - whaddya' think?).

I don't know what Sarge thinks (yes I do, he likes it), but it is also one of MY favorite recordings, which I touted here when I first got it. In all 3 symphonies, they are near the top of the heap of all my recordings.

[DISCLAIMER]  Of course, I love the thinner textures of period type recordings, 'larger forces' make me queasy in this repertoire.