Haydn: Choral Works

Advantages: Pleasant melodies, good structure
Disadvantages: not terribly adventurous in harmony

...Franz Joseph Haydn's music is interesting as it is pleasant to listen to. Although he is actually Austrian, most of Haydn's music was written in Hungary for Prince Esterhazy's twice weekly dinner parties. Which meant that many of Haydn's symphonies and string quartets were written in less than four days - quite an achievement, when you consider the length of time his contemporaries spent writing similar works. Haydn wrote and conducted high standard early classical style classics for a small group of musicians who were employed by the Prince. And it is in many of Haydn's pieces that we can begin to have an insight into the life of him and his musicians. For example, the "Surprise Symphony" was written with the party gusts in mind. It begins in a plodding, slow mesmerising rhythm, which the already bloated and drowsy guests would... Read review

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Advantages: Outstanding music on period instruments
Disadvantages: Swaping C.D'S in music player.

...of the original performances. The works would have been played in a mixed programme of both vocal and instrumental works. This allowed for a rich cross pollination of ideas from theatre. Beethoven is using what he was provided with from his predecessors and making each symphony a drama. The London Classical Players have been in many performances both here and abroad of music in period form. They have performed works by Handel, Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Schubert. This has been well received by the public. The Schutz Choir of London started life in 1962, and carried out 10 years research into choral works. They became professional in 1973 and broke new ground in Baroque music. With Sir Roger they have performed works by Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, and Mozart. Haydn and Schubert. The choir has toured extensively. The original set was a six boxed set from... Read review

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Advantages: Top performance of range of virtuoso piano works
Disadvantages: A little too much virtuosity to listen to all in one sitting

...Alkan, Busoni, Feinberg, Godowsky, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, and Sorabji have come to be known as the "Eight Composer Pianists" along with the performer, Marc-Andre Hamelin, who is the ninth. Each of them wrote music requiring the most amazing level of virtuosity to perform it. The obvious danger here is that of virtuosity for its own sake, and some of Hamelin's performances of his own compositions suffer from this, especially Etude No 10, based on the famous Chopin "Black Keys" Etude. Hamelin's Prelude and Fugue is also more suited to display than enjoyable listening. On the other hand, the Bach Schubler Chorale arranged by Feinberg captures the dignity of Bach's music in a thoroughly pianistic manner, without any sense of display. The Alkan transcription of Haydn's Andante from Symphony No 94 (the "Surprise... Read review

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