Haydn's Haus

[Brahmsian]

Good to hear [asin]Karl[/asin]. Which symphonies would you and Gurn recommend to the Haydn novice?

All of them, Jeffrey! 

Dive in with the Dennis Russell Davies/Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra complete set, which was available at quite the bargain price. 

Two of the most rewarding experiences in my classical music discovery has been going through the complete symphonies and string quartets of Haydn.  The level of creativity, individuality and uniqueness spanning Haydn's symphonies and string quartets is astounding!

[Gurn Blanston]

All of them, Jeffrey! 

Dive in with the Dennis Russell Davies/Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra complete set, which was available at quite the bargain price. 

Two of the most rewarding experiences in my classical music discovery has been going through the complete symphonies and string quartets of Haydn.  The level of creativity, individuality and uniqueness spanning Haydn's symphonies and string quartets is astounding!

I wish I had said that! 

The amazing thing with Haydn, given the size of his oeuvre, is that nothing sucks! No need to say "avoid this or that...". Start in the middle and work towards each end. 

[Brahmsian]

I wish I had said that! 

The amazing thing with Haydn, given the size of his oeuvre, is that nothing sucks! No need to say "avoid this or that...". Start in the middle and work towards each end. 

You are correct.  There are no duds. 

[Gurn Blanston]

I want this!



Sonic Dave, make me one, please!

[North Star]

Some of the keys should double as light switches there.

[Sergeant Rock]

Which symphonies would you and Gurn recommend to the Haydn novice?

My favorites. Those in bold I'd recommend to the novice.

1 D major
5 A major
15 D major
30 C major "Alleluja"
31 D major "Hornsignal"
34 D minor
35 B flat
36 E flat
39 G minor
41 C major
42 D major
44 E minor "Trauer"
48 C major "Maria Theresia"
51 B flat
52 C minor
57 D major
65 A major
67 F major
72 D major
73 D major "La Chasse"
78 C minor
80 D minor
83 G minor "Hen"
85 B flat "La Reine"
88 G major
90 C major
92 G major "Oxford
93 D major
95 C minor
99 E flat
100 G major "Military"
101 D major "Clock"
104 D major "London"

[Brian]

My favorites. Those in bold I'd recommend to the novice.

The Bear isn't one of your favorites?!?!? *prepares bazooka*

The Bear was my entry into the Haydn symphonies, so perhaps I am biased. For several years, that was my favorite Haydn piece of any kind.

[Sergeant Rock]

The Bear isn't one of your favorites?!?!? *prepares bazooka*

I'm trying to keep "favorites" under thirty per cent of Haydn's symphonic output (really hard to do). Since all the Paris symphonies are brilliant, one has to make painful choices. But yes, I love the Bear too...but the Hen just that little bit more 

Sarge

[Gurn Blanston]

I'm trying to keep "favorites" under thirty per cent of Haydn's symphonic output (really hard to do). Since all the Paris symphonies are brilliant, one has to make painful choices. But yes, I love the Bear too...but the Hen just that little bit more 

Sarge

Although how you can leave out #42 from the 'special' list...   

[George]

I wish I had said that! 

The amazing thing with Haydn, given the size of his oeuvre, is that nothing sucks! No need to say "avoid this or that...". Start in the middle and work towards each end. 

I agree! I just finished the Buchbinder piano 10CD set. CD 10 was assembled from early variations and incomplete sonatas - and I liked it at least as much as the rest of the sonatas!

[vandermolen]

Thanks for all the recommendations - much appreciated. 

[Pat B]

78 C minor "Stumbling Goat"
93 D major "Fart"
99 E flat "Cat"

FTFY.

[Jo498]

If you also have the "instrumental" Fricsay set, there are about 6 Haydn symphonies included (44, 48, 95, 98, 101 or so, I only have 44, 95 and 98). They are somewhat old-fashioned and mono and 98 suffers from an early/faulty edition (or in any case skips the keyboard solo in the finale) but otherwise quite good and will you give two famous middle and several late symphonies.

Otherwise, if one does not want to get a complete set, there are many recordings of the last 12 "London", the 6 "Paris" and the 20+ "Sturm and Drang" (30-50 numbers) available. With those, and the early "day time" 6-8 and 88-92 one would end up with about half the symphonies and miss only half a dozen or so of my favorites (like 31, 70, 75, 80) but get a fairly decent representation. Of course, this will probably more expensive than a cheapish complete set (like Fischer/Brilliant oder Russel Davies).

[Karl Henning]

I agree! I just finished the Buchbinder piano 10CD set. CD 10 was assembled from early variations and incomplete sonatas - and I liked it at least as much as the rest of the sonatas!

Splendid!

[Gurn Blanston]

Leaving shortly for my annual pilgrimage to the place of my birth. No new essay this week (or next), mustn't rush these things. Please do check out any you might have missed though, the blog gets lonely when no one visits, Haydn feels he is back at Eisenstadt spending a week with the Missus... 

Cheers,

[Gurn Blanston]

Symphony #92 may very well be his finest effort. In any case, it marks the end of an era, the world post-1789 was going to change in major ways. Here is his goodbye to the Old Regime.

Doctoral thesis? Why not?

Check it out if you like,
Thanks,

For those who didn't see it last week, this look at the Oxford Symphony will have to cover me for a fortnight.

[Gurn Blanston]

Hello all, pleasure to be back. Let me just knock away the cobwebs......  *choke - gasp*. There better now!

Whilst off on vacay, stopped over in New York City to see fellow mod Brewski, and we went uptown to the J.P. Morgan Library, now a museum housing Morgan's freaking amazing collection. My aim was to see the autograph manuscript of Haydn's Symphony in Eb, #91, which has resided there for the last 100 years or so. I got a picture of it off their website and used it in a recent essay, so I wanted to repay their kindness:



As it turns out, they rotate their stock to give a resting period, so to say, and this one was currently dormant, much to my chagrin. We did, however, see Beethoven's incredibly messy autograph of Violin Sonata #10 (Op 96) from 1812. That was amazing!  And then, we also saw this:

Me, as close as I will ever get to Mozart...

which is Mozart's 'Haffner' Symphony, K 385 in D major of July 1782, a little story about which I included in this  recent essay. In one of those odd coincidences which occasionally enter your life, I sent an email of this picture to my father, to which he replied "I was listening to that exact same symphony about a half hour before I got your email"! Or right about the same time as I was looking at the manuscript...

So anyway, that's what I did on my summer vacation. Wish I had longer. 

[mszczuj]

What a pity there's no like it  button here.

[jlaurson]

Whilst off on vacay, stopped over in New York City to see fellow mod Brewski, and we went uptown to the J.P. Morgan Library, now a museum housing Morgan's freaking amazing collection. My aim was to see the autograph manuscript of Haydn's Symphony in Eb, #91...

Went on a Haydn-appreciation trip, myself, by bike... hitting Esterhaza and Esterhazy castles and got a few good bits of Haydn originals to see... letters mostly, but some scores, also.

Meanwhile, fresh from Forbes:



AUG 22, 2015
The Boston Symphony At Grafenegg Or: The Haydn
Ghetto

...If that be a rule, namely not to play Haydn first (and it really should be), this
performance did not bother to deviate from it. Predictably, the Haydn (or the
orchestra) sounded not remotely as good as it should have. The horns, for
one, were a long way from the standard the BSO (or any orchestra, amateur
and professional alike) sets itself, and in every single movement. And while
there was a spot of grace here and there to be found, it would have taken a lot
tighter playing and more energetic wit to get the juices flowing. I'm not saying
that the first movement was directly responsible for a woman passing out
before the Lincoln Town Car-style Andante (she recovered), but it cannot
have helped. Only with much benevolence could one try to blame it on the
orchestra's size: A little too big for Haydn and a little too small for the Wolken-
turm stage, but then there's no reason to fudge it: This was a dead-boring,
flaccid performance, like a formerly great white wine that lost all acidity...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2015/09/13/the-boston-symphony-at-grafenegg-or-the-haydn-ghetto_happpy40thbirthday_jfl_nelsons_/

Grafenegg Castle
Picture courtesy Grafenegg Festival, © Andreas Hofer

[Gurn Blanston]

Went on a Haydn-appreciation trip, myself, by bike... hitting Esterhaza and Esterhazy castles and got a few good bits of Haydn originals to see... letters mostly, but some scores, also.

Meanwhile, fresh from Forbes:
[snip]

That sounds superb, what a nice itinerary!  I was also hoping to see letters, of which Morgan has several (along with piano trios), but my hopes there were also dashed.

I see by Forbes that your hopes were somewhat dashed too, Haydn gets trounced again, and by the Bostons, no less! One thing though: it gave you a great chance to properly exercise your sarcasm machine, which was apparently in better form than the orchestra.  -    Nice essay anyway, even though it reminded me in so many ways of a concert I once attended in Atlanta which opened (predictably) with Haydn #98, and closed (predictably) with Franck's Le chasseur maudit, a programming circumstance so mirroring your own as to be somewhat eerie! Fortunately, mine was played well...

Cheers,