Happy Haydn-Jahr, part 2
Jan. 3rd, 2009 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranThis always happens.
I was at home most of yesterday, so I spent some time listening to five Haydn symphonies, twice each. As usual, I was pleasantly surprised. Hey, these are pretty good! Quite pleasing, nicely complex, dramatic in the right places. I really should spend more time listening to these. Then, after a cd of Haydn concertos, and just a tiny bit sick of Haydn symphonies, I put on a cd of Mozart piano concertos.
The difference was like night and day. The Haydn was pleasant to listen to, but the Mozart felt effortless. It was though a great weight had suddenly been lifted, or an annoying background noise had suddenly been turned off. It was difficult to describe just what was missing from the Haydn that was present in the Mozart, but it felt like... well, yes, "ethereal perfection", to use the phrase from yesterday's article. Poor old Papa Haydn, again.
Meanwhile, in honour of the Haydn year, Brilliant Classics have released the first volume of their Haydn edition. Note that this is just the first part of what will (presumably) be a two part set - 150 CDs which will set you back EUR99 plus shipping.
In this set, the symphony cycle (106 symphonies from the "father of the symphony") with Adam Fischer is well-regarded, and probably the only part I would have bought on its own. There are 19 discs of string quartets, as befitting the "father of the string quartet", 20 discs of songs (including 15 discs just of Scottish songs - no claims of parentage for this one) and, of course, 19 discs of baryton trios (you will note that Haydn is comparatively rarely known as the father of the baryton trio).
All up, and it's amazing that I would say this, it's a close call as to whether this set is actually worth EUR99. It's going to be interesting to see when the second volume comes out and which artists they manage to find for it.
I was at home most of yesterday, so I spent some time listening to five Haydn symphonies, twice each. As usual, I was pleasantly surprised. Hey, these are pretty good! Quite pleasing, nicely complex, dramatic in the right places. I really should spend more time listening to these. Then, after a cd of Haydn concertos, and just a tiny bit sick of Haydn symphonies, I put on a cd of Mozart piano concertos.
The difference was like night and day. The Haydn was pleasant to listen to, but the Mozart felt effortless. It was though a great weight had suddenly been lifted, or an annoying background noise had suddenly been turned off. It was difficult to describe just what was missing from the Haydn that was present in the Mozart, but it felt like... well, yes, "ethereal perfection", to use the phrase from yesterday's article. Poor old Papa Haydn, again.
Meanwhile, in honour of the Haydn year, Brilliant Classics have released the first volume of their Haydn edition. Note that this is just the first part of what will (presumably) be a two part set - 150 CDs which will set you back EUR99 plus shipping.
In this set, the symphony cycle (106 symphonies from the "father of the symphony") with Adam Fischer is well-regarded, and probably the only part I would have bought on its own. There are 19 discs of string quartets, as befitting the "father of the string quartet", 20 discs of songs (including 15 discs just of Scottish songs - no claims of parentage for this one) and, of course, 19 discs of baryton trios (you will note that Haydn is comparatively rarely known as the father of the baryton trio).
All up, and it's amazing that I would say this, it's a close call as to whether this set is actually worth EUR99. It's going to be interesting to see when the second volume comes out and which artists they manage to find for it.
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error
Date: 2009-01-03 01:41 am (UTC)Re: error
Date: 2009-01-03 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-03 09:51 am (UTC)What I've heard, I like. He had a habit of wanting to make people listen - a couple of his symponies lull you into a sense of security and then WAKE YOU UP - and I'm pretty confident that 'easy listening' wasn't on his plan.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-03 09:48 pm (UTC)