Classical Music

Classical Music

A household word when speaking of repertoire, legendary flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal devoted just as much effort to establishing the masterpieces in their rightful place as to unearthing countless works from the baroque, classical and romantic eras. As far as concertos are concerned, cornerstones by Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi thus gained worldwide fame, and it went the same way for Ibert, Jolivet and Nielsen. Unfailing lyric sense, purity of style, magnificent tone, grace of phrasing, fabulous virtuosity, tremendous commitment... Critics, colleagues and the public were all running out of superlatives. Immediately valued as references, his recordings still fascinate and often leave the listener exhilarated. This 12 CD set tries the challenge of surrounding these marvels with some of the most dazzling rediscoveries, offering famous and less famous music, but equally glorious interpretations.

The fourteenth volume of the Haydn2032 edition is entitled L'Imperiale, after the nickname given to Symphony No. 53 in the nineteenth century. This was perhaps Haydn's most famous symphony during his lifetime. Premiered in the theatre at Eszterhaza Palace in 1778, it was published in London around 1781, and it's melodious Andante was arranged more than thirty times for various instruments between 1783 and 1820. It made a decisive contribution to Haydn's success, opening the way for him to perform in England. Symphony No. 54, whose entertaining, theatrical style is a perfectly match for the atmosphere of the legendary court festivities given at Eszterhaza around 1775, completes this programme along with No. 33, one of his first festive works with trumpets, composed c.1761. In his introductory text, Giovanni Antonini revels in the 'capricious', whimsical character of certain passages in the last movement of Symphony No. 53; he also offers an alternative finale of the work at the end of the album.

This recording is the first of a collaboration between Rene Jacobs, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Zurcher Sing-Akademie and Alpha Classics and will involve the release of four albums between 2025 and 2028; the first of these is the Missa Cellensis, then three albums devoted to Haydn's last six masses. Haydn was commissioned in 1766 to write a Missa Solemnis, the Latin term for a fully scored mass with trumpets and timpani; it is the third and largest of Haydn's fourteen masses. It was under this erroneous name that the 1766 Missa Cellensis remained known until 1975, when a fragment of the autograph score containing the title page, Kyrie I and Christe was found in Bucharest and revealed that Haydn had in fact composed two Miss� Cellenses. It is the first of these (1766) that is recorded here. Rene Jacobs puts all his expertise and enthusiasm at the service of this music that he loves so much, in collaboration with soloists with whom he works regularly, an orchestra that is also a longstanding partner, and the remarkable choir of the Sing-Akademie of Zurich.

Recorded live at Boston's magnificent Symphony Hall, CORO brings together on one album the Handel and Haydn Society's recordings of Haydn's early Symphonies Nos. 6, 7 & 8. Known as Le matin, Le midi and Le soir, the three works, written shortly after Haydn joined the court of Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy, are amongst the most striking of the composer's early symphonies. Characterised by unusual virtuoso writing across the orchestral ensemble, all three works feature extensive solo passages for the wind, horn and strings, including rare solo writing for the�double bass�and�bassoon, and demonstrate Haydn's emerging skill as a master of symphonic writing.

Haydn's Passiontide masterpiece in it's string-quartet version, with the Latin inscriptions to each movement intoned as a liturgical preface. Invited to compose reflections on the Seven Last Words for a Good Friday service to be held in Cadiz in 1787, Haydn originally wrote a cycle of pieces for chamber orchestra. Ever practical, he soon adapted the piece for string quartet, and then as a vocal oratorio, while also authorizing a solo-piano arrangement for publication. Thus widely disseminated, the Seven Last Words soon became widely performed and recognised as Haydn at his most inspired. For all that the form of the work - seven slow movements capped by an Presto evoking the terrible effect of the earthquake which had reduced Cadiz to rubble just a generation earlier, in 1755 - promises more solemnity than variety on paper, Haydn takes his cue from the texts which have come down to us as Christ's final phrases. Thus the melodies for each movement have their own, specifically vocal contour, while the accompaniments graphically evoke the agony, the loneliness but also the peace and serenity which these phrases embody. While quartet performances of the Seven Last Words are probably more frequently encountered than any other version, they lose sight of this specific, spiritual context to Haydn's fervent and devout inspiration. The present, new recording restores that connection between text and music. As an ensemble resident at the Duomo in Milan, this fine quartet of Italian musicians is in any case well practised in striking the balance between solemnity and drama in such music. For the sake of clarity, however, they have made this recording in a modern studio. Away from the cathedral, the musicians of the quartet (violinists Andrea Pecolo and Stefano Lo Re, violist Matteo Amadasi and cellist Alfredo Persichilli) are all permanent members of the Orchestra of La Scala. Bringing both dignity and authority to the inscriptions, Aldo Cazzullo is an experienced Italian reporter and journalist, and current deputy managing director of the Corriere della Sera.

A few years after a complete recording of Mozart’s solo piano works that has gradually come to be regarded as a benchmark, Kristian Bezuidenhout has taken all the time he needed to tackle Haydn, the other towering figure of the Viennese Classical keyboard repertory: “Preparing for this recording has been a vivid reminder that it is remarkably difficult to play Haydn’s music well, but that with enough care, and attention to detail, his music has the potential to come jumping from the page. It would be hubris to suggest that I am even close to unlocking any of its secrets, but I am so humbled by the sheer beauty, humanity, wit and delightful irony of this music, that the desire to continue is irresistible.”

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REVIEW:

The listener is drawn in by the myriad subtleties of Bezuidenhout’s playing and by the glorious sounds he draws from his instrument. Soon you’re hanging on every note of this sequence that seems to travel from darkness to darkness. Most important, though, is Bezuidenhout’s playing itself. Technique is obviously not an issue. Decoration, too, is sparing rather than trowelled on. This is the very opposite of ‘look-at me’ pianism.

– Gramophone

Per il Luigi is the 17th volume of the complete Haydn 2032 collection and presents a number of Haydn's earliest symphonies; these had been composed to display the talent of the musicians who had joined the Esterhazy court orchestra during the same period as Haydn himself. The centre of the programme is the Symphony No. 13 in D major from 1763, whose orchestration includes four horns and whose final movement features a prefiguration of the famous theme of Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony, to be composed twenty-five years later. The violin concerto in C major is marked fatto per il Luigi in Haydn's catalogue of works and was dedicated to Luigi Tomasini (1741-1808), a violin virtuoso born in Pesaro and a friend of Haydn. Two centuries later, the young Baroque violin virtuoso Dmitri Smirnov now brilliantly champions this repertoire with the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini.

The new album by pianist Ragna Schirmer tells the story about the blind composer Maria Theresia von Paradis. Louis Braille invented the tactile writing system for Maria Theresia in 1824/25. Ragna Schirmer plays on an original replica of a grand piano from the composers' time, built by the Greifenberger Institut. Maria Theresia's contemporaries Mozart and Haydn accompanying the repertoire list.

Classical Music

This programme focuses on fantasy and pleasure, with three symphonies punctuated by lightness and wit. In addition to ten photos by Magnum photographer Cristina Garcia Rodero, a literary text that appears exclusively on the vinyl edition of the series provides a continuation of the musical experience. Philippe Claudel, President of the Academie Goncourt, here focuses on the pleasure and sensuality of a fleeting youthful encounter: "The third movement of the symphony accompanies us towards the taut velvet of the great lime trees. We are no longer walking through life. We tread upon a dream. And music gives this dream the profundity of legend. [...] I experience my own mythology in this May evening. We lie on the lawn. Our eyes search for each other in the darkness. Our pupils are stars cast into the lofty skies of May. I am not fifteen. I am no longer fifteen. This does not mean anything. Time does not exist."

The renowned French painter Jean Ingres proclaimed Haydn's music to be the alpha and omega: 'Whoever studies music, let his daily bread be Haydn. The first, who created everything, discovered everything, taught everything to the rest!' Hailed as the father of both the symphony and the string quartet, Haydn was both pioneering and prolific. This box is an update of Brilliant Classics' acclaimed Haydn Edition, with an additional 10 CDs of content including classic performances of the Trumpet and Horn concertos (Philharmonia Orchestra) and the Cello Concertos (Jan Vogler). The set of Haydn's Masses is now complete, with renditions of the 'Nelson', 'Creation' and 'Little Organ' Masses and the Heilig- and Theresienmessen by New York's Trinity Church Choir and Rebel Baroque Orchestra. Also new in this edition is Haydn's final opera, L'anima del filosofo, performed by the Bavarian Radio Choir and Munich Radio Orchestra, along with world-famous sopranos Arleen Auger and Emma Kirkby in Haydn's Songs and Cantatas. The Buchberger String Quartet add to their already monumental catalogue of 'Papa' Haydn's quartets with readings of Op.50/4-6, Op.54 and Op.76/4-6, while Federico Guglielmo, Ginevra Petrucci et al. #contribute new recordings of the duos for violin/viola and 2 flutes. Finally, all 8 of Haydn's ingenious Nocturnes grace this updated box, as performed by the Wiener Concert-Verein. As before, the complete keyboard works (including all sonatas) feature here in vibrant performances on fortepianos, the keyboard instrument of Haydn's day. Reissue of the successful Haydn Edition, the only substantial Edition in the market. Extended version, now 160 CD's, with the addition and completion of the Masses, the String Quartets, the Notturni, and the opera L'Anima del Filosofo. Includes Award winning performances by Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra/Adam Fischer, Buchberger Quartet, Emma Kirkby, Frieder Bernius, Bart van Oort, Haydn Trio Vienna, and many more. The greatest celebration of one of the greatest and not yet fully appreciated composers of all time: craftman and genius, creator of a musical world of wonder, surprise, wit and sentiment, forever to be explored and marveled at.

- The trumpet concertos by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) are two of the most celebrated works in the trumpet repertoire, showcasing the instrument's evolving capabilities in the Classical period. Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major was composed in 1796 for Anton Weidinger, a Viennese trumpeter who developed a keyed trumpet capable of playing chromatic notes. This innovation allowed Haydn to explore a wider range of expressive possibilities, incorporating lyrical melodies and rapid passages previously unattainable on the natural trumpet. - Similarly, Hummel's Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major, composed in 1803, was also written for Weidinger and the keyed trumpet. Hummel, a prominent composer and pianist of the time, crafted a work that emphasizes virtuoso technique and lyrical expression. The concerto opens with a grand, dramatic Allegro, followed by a lyrical Andante, and concludes with a lively Rondo, which tests the soloist's agility and technical prowess. Hummel's concerto reflects the transition from the Classical style of Haydn to the more elaborate, early Romantic idiom. - Played by the young, gifted Italian trumpet player Marianne LI Gregni, accompanied by the Orchestra da camera Domenico Mazzocchi del Civita Festival, conducted by Martin Sieghart.

HAYDN: Wind Divertimentos

There is never a shortage of surprises with Joseph Haydn. The Leipzig String Quartet's latest instalment, Opus 2, of their benchmark complete recording of all Haydn's string quartets offers unexpected, unusual and always entertaining moments, presented with virtuosity and mastery by a quartet that combines curiosity and experience to create a delightful whole.

OFRA HARNOY COLLECTION VOL 6 -

This mixed Haydn concert opens with a highly sophisticated performance of the urbane Sinfonia concertante written in London (which Hoboken's catalogue wrongly identified as Symphony No. 105). Solo and orchestral playing is consistently polished, interplay between the four protagonists deft and alert. The opening movement is spirited yet properly spacious, with plenty of room for the players to savour details like the wonderful chromatic counterpoint of the development, and the sallies for oboe and bassoon in the finale (Gordon Hunt's creamy tone a constant pleasure) are deliciously managed... In the D major Cello Concerto, whose popularity continues to defy regular critical broadsides, Ralph Kirshbaum is a strong, eloquent soloist, and negotiates with agility and aplomb Haydn's taxing and sometimes ungrateful figuration. I specially enjoyed his grace and concentration of line in the Adagio, where he brings a beautiful hushed intensity to the main theme's reprise (4'03"). Other readings, including those by Truls Mork and Yo-Yo Ma — both more conveniently coupled with the C major Concerto — have displayed a more subtle range of colour and a more delicate, fanciful touch in the finale; but Kirshbaum stands up pretty well against some hot competition.

-- Gramophone [1/1996]

"This is the third installment in Leonard Slatkin’s series of Haydn’s “London” Symphonies (the first was reviewed in 2/95), again bringing fresh, refined readings at speeds on the fast side that never sound breathless. That includes minuets in the modern manner treated as fast landler movements, more than half-way to becoming scherzos.

Symphony No. 93 was made at Abbey Road over four years ago, followed by the other two – No. 100 also at Abbey Road and No. 99 at Blackheath Concert Halls – in the succeeding 12 months. Those later recordings, while maintaining clean textures – lighter than usual from a full modern orchestra – have more presence and body. I particularly enjoyed the genuine, tripping Allegretto that Slatkin adopts for the second movement of the Military, giving even more swagger than usual to the military incursions from which the symphony gets its nickname."

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [7/1997]

Haydn's violin concertos - all early works composed before 1765 — have suddenly become very popular. These two are for string orchestra only, to which Pinchas Zukerman (soloist and conductor) has added a harpsichord continuo — also in the Symphony No. 22. Nowadays the presence or absence of a harpsichord continuo in Haydn's concertos and symphonies can be a cause for divorce: a huge quantity of ink has been spilt of late over this vexed question. It seems likely, after all, that most of the time Haydn conducted his early symphonies from the violin and that there was no harpsichord continuo. Having said that, Zukerman's continuo is most discreet and musical (the improvisations in the slow movement of the C major Concerto are delightful), and will offend only pedants. Even the cadenzas, by Marc Neikrug in the C major and Philipp Scharwenka in the G major, are inoffensive. The performances of the two concertos are stylish and warmhearted. I found the very slow tempo for the opening Adagio of the Philosopher Symphony unsatisfactory, pleasing though the performance is: it makes the music sluggish and robs it of a certain element of mystery. But if you are going to use a harpsichord in an early Haydn symphony, this is how to do it — no fancy faked amplification and great discretion, almost self-effacing. The sound is elegant.

-- HC Robbins Landon, BBC Music Magazine

Classical Music

Classical Music

"Leonard Slatkin's series of Haydn London Symphonies brings fresh, refined readings at speeds that never sound breathless. There is wit from the Philharmonia woodwind and the string phrasing always gives pleasure."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition] Reviewing RCA 68003

It is difficult to ascertain how many horn concertos Joseph Haydn and his younger brother Michael actually wrote. Certain works are lost; others are erroneously ascribed, or their authenticity at least doubtful. One of the concertos has even been ascribed by different musicologists to Joseph and to Michael Haydn, but it may have been written by another person entirely. The two brothers wrote most of their concertos for the widest variety of solo instruments, but usually in the same type of situation: i.e. once they had assumed important posts at the head of renowned court orchestras. Joseph Haydn became Kapellmeister for the Esterhazy princes in 1761, and Michael became concertmaster of the Salzburg archdiocese court orchestra in 1763. The court musicians in both orchestras were virtuosos in their own right, and one of the tasks of a Kapellmeister consisted in composing new works that permitted them to display their outstanding abilities in the presence of their sovereigns.

HAYDN: THE SEASONS KEGEL, ADA