This is the second volume of Colin Davis's indispensable collection of Haydn's "London" ... more
symphonies. Some of the composer's best-known music is here: on this volume, the not-so-subtle humour of the Surprise (No. 94) and the regal pomp of the Military (No. 100). Elsewhere, the elegant No. 97 is less well-known but no less enjoyable. Davis's performances are large-scale but never inflate the music, and the great Dutch orchestra sounds as though it enjoyed working through the series. This and the accompanying--and equally indispensable--Volume 1 make an ideal way to explore a highpoint of the symphonic repertoire. --Richard Whitehouse
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In the late 1780s Haydn wrote from the Esterházy royal palace to Marianne von Genzinger, ... more
"Here I sit in my wilderness--forsaken--almost without any human society." Unsurprisingly, when Prince Nicolaus died, the unhappy Haydn quickly accepted an invitation to London, informing Genzinger, "My arrival [on New Year's Day 1791] caused a great sensation. I went the rounds of all the newspapers for three successive days." For the next five years Haydn was fêted in the English capital and, but for the death of Prince Anton Esterházy resulting in his reinstatement as Kapellmiester, he might have settled permanently. He wrote his final symphonies, Nos 93-104, during these years, works which stand beside Mozart's as the pinnacles of the classical symphony. Following six volumes of the highly acclaimed Haydn Mass Edition, Richard Hickox and the period-instrument Collegium Musicum 90 embark on a Haydn London Symphonies cycle. Utterly in accord with the composer, Hickox and his players deliver first-rate performances in a refined recording made in London's Blackheath Hall. By linking Symphony No. 95 with Nos 103 ("Drum Roll") and 104 ("London"), Volume 1 also offers great value--78 minutes of glorious music. --Gary S. Dalkin
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It is surely no coincidence that Haydn's nicknamed symphonies are the most regularly ... more
played and recorded. Haydn the showman delighted in playing tricks on his audience, nowhere more so than in the "Clock" and the "Surprise" symphonies. But beyond the charming gimmicks these works are masterpieces of form and melody and, along with Mozart's later symphonies, represent the apogee of the classical symphony before Beethoven and the stormy Romantics began rocking the boat. The ticking motif of the "Clock" seems to encapsulate the rational Age of Enlightenment, the unexpected crescendos of the "Surprise" affectionately mock it. The third work on this disc, Symphony No.102, lacks both a nickname and a gimmick, but all three share a sublime slow movement flanked by outer movements of great vivacity and life-affirming joy. This second volume of "London" symphonies from Richard Hickox and his period-instrument band Collegium Musicum 90 displays the same estimable qualities as the first: a sure grasp of nuance, crisp tempos and, above all, marvellously unfussy, undogmatic readings. Here the emphasis is simply on Haydn's music, and neither conductor nor orchestra indulge in anything to draw undue attention to themselves. Take the surprise in the "Surprise" symphony, for example, which is neither underplayed nor overdramatised. Or the brisk opening "Presto" of the "Clock", whose inherent joyfulness is projected entirely without affectation. Impeccable Chandos engineering guarantees that these much loved, oft-recorded works have rarely sounded fresher. --Mark Walker
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Advantages: A new way to hear Beethoven Disadvantages: Surpassed by some later period cycles
INTRODUCTION
Beethoven's nine symphonies cover one of the major cornerstones of symphonic literature along with the likes of Haydn, Brahms and Sibelius. Beethoven was born in turbulent times when the common people's dissatisfaction toward the ruling monarchs in Europe was reaching new heights which finally culminated in the French Revolution in 1789. Against this came Beethoven, who was born into a family of musicians in Bonn in 1770. His father wanted to coin in on the child prodigy market created by Mozart whose father had exploited his genius in a similar way. But Beethoven was no Mozart. He wasn't born a child progidy and his performing skills were nowhere near as natural as they were with Mozart. Still he made rapid progress as a piano virtuoso and an amateur composer. He was even supposed to take some lessons with Mozart in Wien ...
Advantages: Exciting and moving performance, fine singers, orchestra and conductor Disadvantages: None really
-excited exuberance of a puppy that has treed its first cat!
Background:
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) enjoyed a prolific and highly successful career composing in a wide variety of genres from opera to piano sonatas and is widely regarded to have fine-tuned the Classical Style in his string quartets and symphonies. When Haydn started composing "Die Schoepfung" (The Creation in English) in 1786 he had returned to Vienna after a highly successful time in England where his music was feted by everyone from the King downwards. He was now at the height of his powers, with a doctorate from Oxford University in his pocket and was certainly very aware of the commercial value of his music having made a substantial amount of money in England.
From the copious archived documentation, we can read that Haydn felt there was nothing more he could say in ...
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 ...
