Haydn 2032

[HighlandDougie]

How I wish that someone would reissue Jones’s many recordings of the early symphonies on CD. They seem to have been completely forgotten today yet they were influential in making these early works known to a wider public in the 1960s (before Dorati embarked upon his complete set).

OK, they are CD transfers from LPs but some attempt seems to have been made to remove some of the extraneous noise(s) - see

http://www.haydnhouse.com/Leslie_Jones_Haydn_Symphonies_Series.htm

I also remember the LPs as being something of a revelation but they fell foul of Pye's effective disappearance as a serious classical label in the early/mid 1970s (I don't think that any of the Leslie Jones Haydn series made it to Marble Arch Records). I think that Universal may own the rights to the recordings but, unless someone at Eloquence or Universal Japan rediscovers them, I suspect that they may never see the light of day again other than as these CDR transfers.

[Richard Barrett]

Back on Manfred Huss for a moment, and the Early Divertimenti set - I think you'll know whether you're going to like it by listening to the first item on disc 3, which is a "Feldparthie" for pairs of violins, english horns, bassoons and horns, a highly attractive sound.

[jayne lee wilson]

Of the five Lamentations I’ve heard, three fall into a post- or neo-baroque group : Antonini, Pinnock, Kuijken, with smaller orchestras, clipped-phrasing, lighter both texturally and emotionally; and two - Bruggen, Fey - with a larger richer orchestral palette, more intense expressive emphasis; but crucially, subtler shades of expression (through more varied dynamics, phrase and tempi) as well.

I much prefer Antonini on the barrocco side - he does at least have the requisite physical intensity in the quicker music: fieriness indeed, almost to a fault in works such as 39 and 49. Fairly scarifying to heart and ears. A foot in both camps, you might say.
I still miss the subtleties, or a deeper response, some of the time, in slow movements especially; but I regret not buying the physical discs rather than the excellent-sounding 24/96 files of the 2032 series a little now; “lovely things to have” with the photos and presentation. I think I was put off by the one with 60 & 70 (the readings were just too sober for me), but I’ve enjoyed the greater proportion, (especially if the Giardino Armonico are playing - pace the 60/70 volume, he often gets a sweeter more responsive sound from them compared to the Basle CO). I always want to hear what he does. Bit expensive to catch up with the physical discs as well....but, temptation..they'd look very nice on a shelf of their own...

I do find those monothematic, bipolar Haydn minuets (44, 52, 26, there may be others) very interesting; “I would know my shadow and my light, so shall I at last be whole…” as Tippett put it. Haydn was a Jungian too, avant la lettre….

[Steerpike]

Or rather Jung was a Haydnite!

Steerpike

[Mal]

Haydn was a Jungian ... Jung was a Haydnite!

Synchronicity?

[Mal]

First two minutes of Antonini in no. 26 here:

... and you can hear the adagio (second movement) on today's Record Review right after BAL (10.24) And very beautiful it is, especially the wind playing.

[jayne lee wilson]

Synchronicity?

oh YEAH....!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsKz1FBPTxc


(...yes, I do like the adagio best out of the new Lamentatione recording...repeat taken, and for this relief much thanks....)
Spending some time with the other 2032 releases again recently, the 22-Philosopher (or "God Speaks Patiently to the Sinner" perhaps ) really stood out as a lovely performance, on perhaps the best release so far, Volume 2 with 46 and 47...( and the marvellous CBSO/Rattle also held up against it remarkably well, such is its orchestral/directorial sensitivity....big-band? Well you'd hardly know it...extraordinary, one of Rattle's best records...)

[MickyD]

Back on Manfred Huss for a moment, and the Early Divertimenti set - I think you'll know whether you're going to like it by listening to the first item on disc 3, which is a "Feldparthie" for pairs of violins, english horns, bassoons and horns, a highly attractive sound.

I'm going to be exploring all of this BIS series, Richard - I like what I hear very much. For me, early Haydn is enchanting.

[Richard Barrett]

Yesterday's listening for me was the first four volumes of Antonini's Haydn (there wasn't time for the other two). I think this will be the series to stick with, if I survive long enough to hear it all. If, as here, everything is put across with such commitment and attention to detail, one can then make one's own mind up about what it "means", if anything. I was only quoting the liner notes on no.26 to underline that the piece doesn't have to be seen as having a "tragic essence" - actually I don't personally hear it as a dialogue between God and a leichtsinnige Seele either, but as a confrontation between two musical elements (each with its expressive/associative aura, to be sure) which is antagonistic in the first movement and harmonious in the second, after which the minuet returns to the dark mood of the first subject of the first movement (ie. before the violins/plainsong combination enters), bringing about a different kind of closure than would be afforded by the addition of an "affirmative" finale. But these are the kinds of thoughts I could cite for very many if not most (if not all!) Haydn symphonies (and not only these).

The only doubts that come into my mind are that I'm not always interested in hearing the non-Haydn items in the programmes, although when I put my mind to it there isn't anything among them that I don't think is worth listening to; and that something more like chronological order would be a better way of organising the recordings. On the other hand I wonder whether the "Paris" and "London" cycles are going to be kept together, and indeed it might be interesting to distribute them among other symphonies a bit more... I don't know.

[Beef Oven!]

Yesterday's listening for me was the first four volumes of Antonini's Haydn (there wasn't time for the other two). I think this will be the series to stick with, if I survive long enough to hear it all. If, as here, everything is put across with such commitment and attention to detail, one can then make one's own mind up about what it "means", if anything. I was only quoting the liner notes on no.26 to underline that the piece doesn't have to be seen as having a "tragic essence" - actually I don't personally hear it as a dialogue between God and a leichtsinnige Seele either, but as a confrontation between two musical elements (each with its expressive/associative aura, to be sure) which is antagonistic in the first movement and harmonious in the second, after which the minuet returns to the dark mood of the first subject of the first movement (ie. before the violins/plainsong combination enters), bringing about a different kind of closure than would be afforded by the addition of an "affirmative" finale. But these are the kinds of thoughts I could cite for very many if not most (if not all!) Haydn symphonies (and not only these).

The only doubts that come into my mind are that I'm not always interested in hearing the non-Haydn items in the programmes, although when I put my mind to it there isn't anything among them that I don't think is worth listening to; and that something more like chronological order would be a better way of organising the recordings. On the other hand I wonder whether the "Paris" and "London" cycles are going to be kept together, and indeed it might be interesting to distribute them among other symphonies a bit more... I don't know.

When I listen to Haydn symphonies, I often hear dark moods when the commentary says light should be heard, and vicer verser. It used to bother me, but on listening to the 2032 project, it doesn't matter to me anymore; correlation or cause, I don't know.

Initially I found the thematical/non-chronological presentation of the symphonies a bit off-putting, but now I welcome it.

Your point about the Paris symphonies (or indeed other clusters) is very interesting. I really hope they are not grouped together and the current format is followed. I'm really enjoying well spaced but regular instalments of different Haydn symphonic works.

The included works by other composers have not captured my imagination, but I'm sure that in time I will come to value their inclusion.

I guess the merit of the thinking behind the project is beginning to snap into focus for me.

[vinteuil]

... I think this will be the series to stick with, if I survive long enough to hear it all.

... is my worry concerning this marvellous undertaking. I shall be eighty in 2032.

I hope that CDs and CD players will still be around for the next fourteen years, too...

I am quite enjoying the non-Haydn bits as sorbets between the more meaty offerings - and I hope to make discoveries.



.

[Bryn]

... is my worry concerning this marvellous undertaking. I shall be eighty in 2032.

I hope that CDs and CD players will still be around for the next fourteen years, too...

I am quite enjoying the non-Haydn bits as sorbets between the more meaty offerings - and I hope to make discoveries.



.

Let's hope Antonini makes ot to 67. Whether I make it to 86 is something I hope for but have some doubts about.

[MickyD]

Let's hope Antonini makes ot to 67. Whether I make it to 86 is something I hope for but have some doubts about.

Me too - which is why I am purchasing and listening to as much Haydn as I can lay my hands on at the moment. Especially the excellent BIS/Huss series which Richard flagged up...some real delights there.

[Richard Barrett]

Now spinning: Haydn 2032 volume 5. I must have heard nos. 80 and 81 before but they didn't seem familiar to me. Both absolutely marvellous, and sounding luminous in this recording.

[jayne lee wilson]

Now spinning: Haydn 2032 volume 5. I must have heard nos. 80 and 81 before but they didn't seem familiar to me. Both absolutely marvellous, and sounding luminous in this recording.

Did you not catch up with this one?

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/haydn-symphonies-78-79-80-81-accademia-bizantina-ottavio-dantone/0002894788843

...or this with its fierier, edgier attack...

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/haydn-symphonies-no-49-no-80-violin-concerto-no-1-freiburger-barockorchester-and-gottfried-von-der-goltz/3149020202937

Both get the highest recommendation from me at least...