Haydn

In the series of live recordings with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, this outstanding recording took place both in Germany and abroad. Jansons’ previous Ravel/Bartók recording has received an ECHO Klassik in 2008. On this new album, the orchestra presents key symphonic works by Joseph Haydn: the Sinfonia Concertante No. 105 and symphonies No. 100 and No. 104. Once again Jansons and the Orchestra prove to have a superb flair for the musical content of those works.

With 19 symphonies spread across six CDs, this major reissue set of Trevor Pinnock's performances (with The English Concert) of a substantial selection of Haydn's "Sturm und Drang" symphonies is outstanding in every regard. Derived from the German literary movement that affirmed that emotionalism and dark-hued urgency powerfully reflected the human condition, "Sturm und Drang" (literally "Storm and Stress") exerted a profound impact upon the evolution of the Classical symphony, especially in Haydn's hands. No one with an interest in either the period or the composer can possibly afford to be without this set. The performances are simply magnificent! Pinnock's periodist band sounds brilliantly accomplished throughout, and the recorded sound is clear, impactful, and detailed.

Haydn wrote the six quartets of Opp 54 and 55 in 1788, by now a celebrated composer across Europe and still opera Kapellmeister at Esterházy. These period instrument players, whose very name declares their affinity for Haydn, excel in the latest in their Hyperion series. Ever spry in fast movements, faultless in dexterity and intonation, they find a special warmth of feeling in the slower moments: the songful Adagio Cantabile of Op 55 No 1, the puzzling, melancholy Andante of Op 55 No 2, the dark, hymn-like first bars of Op 54 No 2’s Adagio, out of which the violin soars in almost improvised, bluesy reverie. Too many pleasures to enumerate. Try for yourself.

Haydn’s six Op. 20 string quartets are milestones in the history of the genre. He wrote them in 1772 for performance by his colleagues at the Esterházy court and, unusually, not specifically for publication. Each one is a unique masterpiece and the set introduces compositional techniques that radically transformed the genre and shaped it for centuries to come. Haydn overturns conventional instrumental roles, crafts remarkably original colours and textures, and unlocks new expressive possibilities in these works which were crucial in establishing the reputation of purely instrumental music. The range within the quartets is kaleidoscopic. From the introspective, chorale-like slow movement of No. 1 via the terse and radical quartet No. 3 in G minor to the comic spirit of the fourth in D major, each of the quartets inhabits a distinct musical world. For many, this is some of the greatest music Haydn ever wrote. Playing these seminal works is one of the world’s finest young ensembles, the Doric String Quartet.

Haydn composed more than twenty operas, mainly for the sumptuous theatre at Eszterháza, the palace of his long-time employers, the princes of Esterházy. Even so, his work in the operatic field remains largely neglected. This disc focuses on an even more closely guarded secret: the so-called 'insertion arias' that Haydn wrote for inclusion in operas by other composers. The rarely, if at all, recorded music includes Haydn's three contributions to La Circe, an opera pasticcio which combined music by several composers, and six of the surviving insertion arias. Among these is Infelice sventurata, written for an opera by Cimarosa, and one of Haydn's finest arias, here movingly performed by Miah Persson. The Swedish soprano shares the greater part of the programme with the Swiss tenor Bernard Richter.

This recording, made in 1991, dates from what was perhaps the heyday of the English Chamber Orchestra (although the group's vigorous activities remain undiminished). The ECO, with origins as a conductorless Baroque orchestra, functioned smoothly as an ensemble, with a restrained sound and a high level of mutual sensitivity among the players. In these late Haydn symphonies, that translated into readings that were exceptionally effective in bringing out the humorous details and asides, the extensions of phrases so that they end with a wink or a joke, that are the essence of late Haydn. The orchestra is probably about the size of the one Haydn had at his disposal in London.

The summit of Haydn’s quartet-writing, and of the classical string quartet medium itself. The ‘Emperor’, ‘Fifths’ and ‘Sunrise’ may be the best known of the six—as so often with those works by Haydn which have nicknames—but the others are every bit their equal.