Richard Hickox Haydn London Vol. 1

In popular mythology Haydn’s name is far less closely associated with the piano sonata than with the string quartet or symphony. Though a more than competent pianist (one writer in London described his playing of the brilliant fortepiano solo in the Symphony No 98 as ‘neat and distinct’), he was by his own admission no ‘wizard’ on the keyboard, and unlike Mozart and Beethoven never wrote sonatas for his own performance. Yet the keyboard remained central to Haydn’s creative process. His morning routine would invariably begin with him trying out ideas, for whatever medium, on the clavichord, the harpsichord or, from the 1780s, the fortepiano; and he composed prolifically for keyboard through most of his adult life, beginning with the harpsichord works he produced for aristocratic pupils during his ‘galley years’ in Vienna and culminating in the three great sonatas (Nos 50–52 in Hoboken’s catalogue) inspired by the sonorous Broadwood instruments he encountered on his London visits.

The Leipzig String Quartet is back! After a break of two years the top ensemble from Saxony now continues its Haydn edition. Nos. 1, 2, and 6 round off Haydn’s op. 64 - a marvellous combination of emotional dedication and consummate classicism. Haydn, the glorious inventor of the string quartet, took the genre to new heights in his op. 64. Perfectly balanced in form and harmony, the pieces comprising this number are directly interrelated. In London Haydn’s career once again truly blossomed. The Quartets op. 64 must have played a considerable role in this development, and with the Leipzig String Quartet we immediately understand why this was so.

Chandos' Grainger Edition brings yet another cornucopia of delights delivered with indefatigable dedication and twinkling charisma by Richard Hickox and the BBC Philharmonic. The formula is the same as on this team's first and second volumes of Grainger's orchestral music, with tried-and-trusted nuggets such as Green Bushes and Colonial Song (both given here in particularly lavish orchestrations from 1905-06 and 1919 respectively) sitting cheek by jowl alongside genuine rarities like The Merry King (based on a folk-tune from West Sussex and boasting a seductively ornate piano contribution) and the amazingly colourful English Dance No.1 (a riot of a piece which prompted Gabriel Fauré to exclaim: "It's as if the total population were a-dancing!").

"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005. The lists presented were compiled based on votes from selected rock musicians, critics, and industry figures, and predominantly feature British and American music from the 1960s and 1970s. From 2007 onwards, the magazine published similarly titled lists in other countries around the world.

This disc offers a lion’s maw worth of the popular Grainger. Many of these pieces are in versions prepared for performance by Leopold Stokowski. All the great hits are there in balmy arrangements, recordings and performances. Somewhat breaking the mould is the Delian warm bath that is Dreamery. Alongside this element we get the phantasmagoric The Warriors – his largest and most exuberantly kaleidoscopic work written between 1913 and 1916 at the instigation of Beecham for the Ballets Russes. It was never performed by them. If you know Chisholm’s splendid First Piano Concerto you will know what to expect. This feral celebration of warriors from every country and age explodes in showers of aural shrapnel with at least a strand or two owed to Stravinsky’s Rite, Van Dieren’s Chinese Symphony, Delius’s Cuckoo and Bax’s Summer Music.

No praise can be too great for the palpable dedication and sensitivity of these performances…

Deutsche Grammophon unites all of its Fricsay recordings into 2 volumes, of which this is the first. FERENC FRICSAY – Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon Vol. 1 presents Fricsay's orchestral output in its entirety, covering symphonies, concertos, waltzes, overtures, ballets etc.

The second part of the 18th century saw increasing popularity for the trio for keyboard and two melody instruments. Joseph Haydn contributed considerably to the development of this genre with his trios for keyboard, violin and cello. Whereas in his early trios the violin has a relatively important part to play – Haydn usually played that part himself - gradually the keyboard became the dominating instrument, reducing the violin and cello to merely accompanying roles.