Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Performers:
Matthias Lingenfelder, violin
Jens Oppermann, violin
Stewart Eaton, viola
Andreas Arndt, violoncello






Track Listing:

Disc One:

String quartet op. 64 no. 1, Hob. III:65 in C major
1. Allegro moderato
2. Menuet. Allegretto ma non troppo - Trio
3. Allegretto scherzando
4. Finale. Presto

String quartet op. 64 no. 2, Hob. III:68 in B minor
5. Allegro spiritoso
6. Adagio ma non troppo
7. Menuet. Allegretto - Trio
8. Finale. Presto

String quartet op. 64 no. 3, Hob. III:67 in B flat major
9. Vivace assai
10. Adagio
11. Menuet. Allegretto - Trio
12. Finale. Allegro con spirito

Disc Two:

String quartet op. 64 no. 4, Hob. III:66 in G major
1. Allgro con brio
2. Menuett. Allegretto - Trio
3. Adagio. Cantabile e sostenuto
4. Finale. Presto

String quartet op. 64 no. 5, Hob. III:63 in D major
5. Allegro moderato
6. Adagio. Cantabile
7. Menuet. Allegretto - Trio
8. Finale. Vivace

String quartet op. 64 no. 6, Hob. III:64 in E flat major
9. Allegro
10. Andante
11. Menuet. Allegretto - Trio
12. Finale. Presto


Timing: 139.48

Here Joseph Haydn's music is revealed as the perfect expression of truth. And the Auryn's performance of his string quartets is exactly as it should be: vigorous, beautiful to listen to, and full of feeling. A rediscovery both of sheer beauty and intellectual development.'

Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Performers:
Matthias Lingenfelder, violin
Jens Oppermann, violin
Stewart Eaton, viola
Andreas Arndt, violoncello


Track Listing:
1. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major: Vivace assai
2. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Largo e cantabile
3. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Scherzo. Allegro
4. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Finale. Allegretto
5. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Allegro moderato
6. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Scherzo. Allegro
7. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Largo e sostenuto
8. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Finale. Presto
9. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Allegro moderato
10. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Scherzo. Allegro di molto
11. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Andante
12. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Finale. Presto
13. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Allegro moderato
14. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Scherzo. Allegretto
15. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Adagio ma non troppo
16. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: (Finale) Rondo. Presto
17. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Vivace assai
18. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Andante
19. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Scherzo. Allegretto
20. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Finale. Allegretto
21. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Allegro moderato
22. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Scherzo. Allegretto
23. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Largo
24. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: (Finale). Presto

Timing: 122:32

Here Joseph Haydn's music is revealed as the perfect expression of truth. And the Auryn's performance of his string quartets is exactly as it should be: vigorous, beautiful to listen to, and full of feeling. A rediscovery both of sheer beauty and intellectual development.'

Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Performers:
Matthias Lingenfelder, violin
Jens Oppermann, violin
Stewart Eaton, viola
Andreas Arndt, violoncello


Track Listing:
1. String quartet op. 17 no. 1, Hob. III:25 in E major Moderato
2. Menuet
3. Adagio
4. Finale. Presto
5. String quartet op. 17 no. 2, Hob. III:26 in F major Moderato
6. Menuet. Poco allegretto
7. Adagio
8. Finale. Allegro di molto
9. String quartet op. 17 no. 3, Hob. III:27 in E flat major Andante grazioso
10. Menuet. Allegretto
11. Adagio
12. (Finale). Allegro di molto
13. String quartet op. 17 no. 4, Hob. III:28 in C minor Moderato
14. Menuet. Allegretto
15. Adagio. Cantabile
16. Finale. Allegro
17. String quartet op. 17 no. 5, Hob. III:29 in G major Moderato
18. Menuet. Allegretto
19. Adagio
20. Finale. Presto
21. String quartet op. 17 no. 6, Hob. III:30 in D major Presto
22. Menuet
23. Largo
24. Finale. Allegro

Timing: 141:10

Among the great conductors of the second half of the 20th century Sergiu Celibidache is without a doubt the most unusual personality. Even his fierce opponents hardly deny that he was exceptionally gifted as a musician and conductor – a gift he had consciously developed to absolute perfection. However, opinions differ where his creative activity during his late Munich years (1979–96) and his person in general are concerned, though negative judgements are often based on incorrect or insufficient information. Anyone who takes an interest in this conductor will quite soon come across an abstruse film document in which a musician talks about her demotion by Celibidache: Within her group she was downgraded from the contractually agreed first position to the second position in concerts Celibidache conducted (her salary remaining the same). Unfortunately, the whole story is never reported coherently. After intrigues on the part of the orchestra she did not follow the advice to discuss face to face with Celibidache the situation that had meanwhile escalated, but risked an angry outburst in the canteen in front of everyone, resulting in the situation escalating even more. Finding a viable solution to the conflict would have required all parties “to overcome their inhibitions”. This did not happen and all that remained were bitterness and incomprehension.

Joseph Haydn once remarked: ‘I was not a magician on any instrument, but I knew the power and effect of all of them.’ This knowledge he used to good effect in his cello concertos, composed some twenty years apart for two different cellists in ‘his’ orchestra at the court of Prince Esterhazy. Both works are firmly established in the concert repertoire, but this has not always been the case. Concerto No. 1 in C major was long believed to be lost and it was only in 1961 that a set of parts were discovered in the Prague National Museum. The D major concerto, on the other hand, was never lost, but for a very long time there was doubts concerning its provenance. Only when Haydn's manuscript was found in 1954 could the work’s authorship be clarified beyond doubt.

These two jewels in the cello repertoire are here performed by the acclaimed Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra who also directs the Münchener Kammerorchester. Closing the disc is a work composed some 150 years later: the composer and viola player Paul Hindemith wrote his Trauermusik for himself to perform at a concert commemorating the death of George V of England in 1936. It is here heard in the version for cello and strings.

REVIEW:

Christian Poltéra is front and centre in these vivacious performances of Haydn’s two cello concertos. His ‘Mara’ Stradivari is in fine voice, throaty and gruff in chivvying low-register passages but singing plangently in the high-lying lyrical writing that is such a feature of both works.

-- The Strad

Six feather-light divertimenti by Joseph Haydn are presented by flutist Anna Zhitnukhina on her new GENUIN album. The works are miniature gems that deserve to be distributed more widely! Moreover, it is remarkable that the young flutist has recorded all six trios twice, one time on historical, one time on modern instruments, respectively. What becomes audibly apparent here is just how strongly the interpretation of each piece of music depends on the way it is approached as well as on the choice of instrumentation. Both versions offer clarity, elegance, and expression, yet all listeners will opt for the one or the other version according to their taste - a fascinating experiment!

Joseph Haydn’s oratorios "Die Jahreszeiten" [The Seasons] and "Die Schöpfung" [The Creation] are closely intellectually connected with each other: whilst The Creation paints a picture of the world coming into existence, The Seasons is about its existence and the cyclical growth and decay of nature over the course of a year. With its powerful depictions of nature, this musical journey through the year is one of the most popular compositions by the Viennese classical composer. In many respects, Haydn’s late work The Seasons follows on from formal elements in The Creation, but he continues these in independent, innovative ways, and draws on the full range of compositional effects. Conducted by Marcus Creed, this recording with the Orpheus Vocal Ensemble, renowned soloists, and the musicians of Concerto Köln uses the new critical edition of the work from Carus-Verlag.

Much of Franz Joseph Haydn’s long career was in service as a court musician to the wealthy Esterházy family. It was early in Haydn’s time at the Esterháza palace that Prince Nicolaus took a liking to the hypnotic sound of the baryton – a bowed instrument with an extra set of strings that vibrate sympathetically or are plucked for tonal contrast. The baryton was considered the pinnacle of 18th-century aristocratic instruments, and the outstanding beauty of Haydn’s trios represent its final renaissance, placing this remarkable antique firmly into the poised and tasteful Classical style of the day. The Valencia Baryton Project comprises musicians from the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía opera house in Valencia and the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, who came together with the vision of performing the almost 160 works by Joseph Haydn written for the baryton, a cross between a viola da gamba and a lirone. At the heart of the ensemble is the traditional baryton trio – baryton, viola and cello – for which Haydn wrote 123 works of outstanding beauty during his time as court composer for Prince Esterhazy of Austria. Members of the Valencia Baryton Project have performed in chamber ensembles including Quarteto Radamés Gnattali, the Elan Quintet, Gogmagogs and Trio Vanguardia and with orchestras including the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the BBC Philharmonic. The Valencia Baryton Project is the first ensemble to record the baryton for Naxos.

Much of Joseph Haydn’s musical life was spent in service at the palace of Eszterháza on the Hungarian plains, a complex of buildings to rival Versailles in magnificence. Haydn’s reputation abroad was, however, already considerable by 1790, and he was invited to travel to London where the delightfully lively and at times brilliantly virtuosic trios Hob.XV:16and 19were published. Further trios from the 1760s express music of sheer joy, all performed here by the acclaimed Oberlin Trio.

Haydn: String Quartets, Vol. 1

Haydn’s 30 Piano Trios were written at a time when the harpsichord was being replaced by the pianoforte and when a parallel change saw the emergence of sonata-allegro form. His earliest trios, such as the Trio in F major, Hob. XV: 40, were also known as Divertimentos or Partitas, whilst the Trio in G major, Hob. XV: 15, was part of a group that offers the performer the alternative scoring of flute over the more usual violin. They reflect the airy and nimble qualities that grace all of Haydn’s works in the genre.

Johannes Klumpp writes: “The chronological journey through Joseph Haydn’s surviving symphonies that we began in Volume 25 now continues with his Symphony no. 107. Do not be misled by the high number! Composed about 1760/61, this is a work from Haydn’s early days, before his time at Schloss Esterházy. It was undoubtedly commissioned by Graf Morzin, who was Haydn’s employer at the time. All the symphonies on this album are practically never played. Our desire, then, is to introduce them to a modern audience through our recordings. Our aim is to make Haydn audible – in all his vividness, liveliness, musicality and joie de vivre. Haydn was a radiantly sunny composer: he shines when you cast light upon him! On this release, therefore, we travel with Haydn from his time in the service of Graf Morzin to his days at Esterházy. Symphony no. 15 marks his arrival at this destination. A new era begins – we show you the steps by which it was reached!”

A soloist’s career path can often be a lonely one, especially for an exceptional instrumental soloist like Felix Klieser. It is then all the more inspiring when over the course of many years playing together, there is the opportunity to build and nurture close artistic and personal contacts with other musicians. Felix Klieser’s concerts with the Prague-based Zemlinsky Quartet therefore are understandably among his annual favorites, as they present an opportunity for the five musicians to come together and to show that many years of music-making together has forged them into much more than just another artistic ensemble. “I have played so much and so often with the Zemlinsky Quartet, and so we wanted to record a program of music together,” he explains. What could be more suitable for such a project than Mozart and Haydn? “The Horn Quintet is a real favorite of mine, in fact it may be the piece I like to play most,” is the hornist’s reaction to Mozart’s chamber works for the instrument. He has amply proved that he is very fond indeed of Mozart, having already recorded the Horn Concertos of Wolfgang Amadeus. Now comes the Quintet. “It is such great fun to play this music. It’s like being a child in a sweet shop who is told: ‘you’re allowed to pick up anything and you can eat as much as you like.’ You go tumbling from one mood into another, interchanging between unbounded jubilation and deepest despair in the space of two bars; you really have to be on your toes – it’s intensive stuff.”

It is often supposed that the string quintet as a genre was created by Mozart, but in fact there are plenty of examples by other composers before him, both in Salzburg and Vienna. Among the Salzburgers, Michael Haydn was of course pre-eminent. Two of the quintets recorded here were written in 1773—that is, immediately before Mozart wrote his own first quintet, K174; the date of the third, the B flat work, is uncertain but not likely to be much different. These works are listed in some sources as divertimentos or notturnos rather than as true music for the chamber and in fact the one in B flat is in six movements, with a march, like the Mozart divertimentos of the time. Whether the lowest part should be played on a cello, as it is here, or a double-bass, as indicated in some sources (that was the normal practice in Salzburg), is doubtful, but in any case unimportant. What is important is that they are really fine pieces, comparable on every level with the music of Michael's Salzburg colleague and his Esterhazy brother.

The B flat work is full of attractive and amiable invention, and the variation movement carries it to a higher plane, with a slow penultimate variation of real depth and poignancy with almost operatic dialogue between the first viola and first violin (no doubt Mozart remembered it, consciously or otherwise, when composing his K515 slow movement). No less fine is the Adagio cantabile of the C major work, with a viola melody above pizzicato accompaniments and comments and echoes from the violin (with the roles later reversed): music that is both delectable and profoundly felt. The perpetuum mobile finale here, with some nice touches of counterpoint, is another delight, both brilliant and amusing, and it has echoes in Mozart's K174. The last of the quintets here, in G, begins just like a mature Joseph Haydn string quartet and is as closely and as wittily argued; its slow movement is again of considerable intensity (hints here of Mozart's much later Kleine Nachtmusik) and its final Presto will strike the listener as distinctly 'Mozartian' with its chromaticisms and its contrapuntal interest. A very appealing disc, finely and sensitively played, and full of sympathetic and musicianly touches, especially in the slow movements.

-- Stanley Sadie, Gramophone [8/1994]

Haydn: Symphonies 92 (Oxford) & 99