Four Experts - it was with this headline that the press welcomed Vol. 10 of the encyclopedic Haydn series by the Leipzig String Quartet. Now the ensemble from Saxony doubles our pleasure with all six quartets from Opus 17 on the two CDs of this attractive box expanding our Haydn quartet horizons to include his earlier works. The result is uncommonly rewarding inasmuch as light is shed on a highly interesting developmental advance from divertimento mirth to mature chamber music and straight into the formative years of a revolutionarily new musical genre. For it was first through Joseph Haydn that the string quartet was crowned the king of chamber disciplines. Four instruments performing as equal partners but in different registers mean that the music has to focus on the essentials; no instrumental tricks might help it over possible compositional longueurs. But Haydn's music of course does not at all need such assistance. The ten years of experience that Haydn had gathered in this genre are heard in his Opus 17. The form is clearly more concentrated; instead of creating an entertaining medley of catchy melodies, he limits himself to a few themes from which he develops a movement or an entire quartet. The extraordinary skill of the instrumentalists available to him in Esterhaza inspired him to craft the sparkling passages that repeatedly flash across his scores. The absolutely great moments in this collection also include many a slow movement - for example, the Adagio from No. 3, which takes the listener into harmonically remote fields. In the careful hands of the four top musicians from Leipzig these rarely heard quartets develop a fascinating appeal that could not be more charming.

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Directed by Brian Large. Starring Cecilia Bartoli.

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In every one of the quartets in this splendid collection, there is the feeling of setting out on an entirely fresh journey. Companionable … deeply enjoyable … brilliantly inventive.

This is fine, traditional (in a good sense) quartet-playing, and unlike other complete quartet cycles currently available (Tatrai, Angeles), this set is REALLY complete. You get not only The Seven Last Words, but also the spurious, but very pretty, Op. 3 quartets, as well as the works later discovered to be arrangements of pieces for larger forces. These all fall among the earliest works, and so do not represent the composer's mature quartet style, but they are no less attractive for that and they are, one and all, well-played and well-recorded.

Among the mature works, the highlights include Op. 20, Op. 64, and Op. 76, all given intelligent, warm, lively interpretations. In Op. 33, the group misses something of Haydn's humor. Witness, for example, the silly pizzicato plonk that ends the G major Quartet's melodramatic slow movement, here taken at a serious piano instead of forte as indicated. In Op. 73/74, like many other groups (notably the Tatrai), these players tend to underplay the music's orchestral qualities--those grand gestures in some of the first movements and finales.

Still, if you're looking for a convenient way to acquire these literally epochal works in consistently attractive performances at an equally reasonable price, you can't go wrong here. It's all worth noting that the booklet, which includes the notes to Naxos' companion sets of concertos, symphonies, and piano works, offers quite a bonus.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Celebrate with Delos International this exciting new release from the world-renowned Master of the cello Janos Starker. In partnership with Maestro Gerard Schwarz and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Starker brings the sublime music of Haydn to the classical listening consumer. Recorded at Queens Hall in Edinburgh, these expressive classical period chamber jewels - Concerto No.1 in C Major and No.2 in D Major - traverse many emotions and themes and could have been composed for, and dedicated to, the technical mastery of Starker. Starker has been christened 'the king of cellists' and is recognized throughout the world as one of the greatest virtuso cellists and musicians of our era. Born in Budapest in 1924, and currently a Distinguished Professor at Indiana University's School of Music, Starker is as noted for his scholarship as his expansive and inspiring performances. Haydn's Cello Concertos No.1 & 2 featured on this timely release serve as 'Greatest Hits' for the cello and belong in each collection, and all classical sections. This exceptional offering brings Delos' technical reputation, the artistry of Starker & Schwarz, and this saleable repertoire into an unbeatable trio.

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Following an acclaimed disc of cello concertos and symphonies by C. P. E. Bach, the musicians of the Ensemble Resonanz continue their exploration of eighteenth-century orchestral music. For several years now, under the direction of its inspired conductor Maestro Riccardo Minasi, the ensemble has taken up the challenge of playing contemporary instruments with complete mastery of historically informed performance practice. Forty years after what has been called 'the Baroque revolution', what a pleasure to rediscover these nine orchestral movements literally inhabited by the last words of Christ on the cross - and displaying that rhetorical skill of which Joseph Haydn was a peerless exponent.

The great popularity of the piano trio enabled Haydn to explore countless formal and harmonic experiments; while the keyboard remains the central element in the musical structure, the strings give the discourse a subtle colouration, and the violin is often assigned independent musical ideas. This elegant three-way dialogue, conducted here by the Trio Wanderer, is as impressive for its originality as for its supreme stylistic virtuosity. Haydn was a past master at this little game, and still remains so centuries later!

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REVIEW:

These are beautifully played performances. There is enough clarity around each instrument to make every line audible, the sparer textures of the Classical trio style help greatly in this respect. It’s a treat to hear Haydn trios played with such care for their sound and texture.

– Gramophone

Haydn: "London" Trios Nos. 1-4 & Duets for 2 Flutes

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This is an especially significant release in Sony's distinguished “Masterworks Heritage“ series, returning the Symphonies 97 and 99 (recorded in 1957) to the catalog and comprising the first stereo release of each. Sonically this transfer offers radical improvement over the old Epic LP of four decades ago. The early stereo image, if not particularly directional, provides greater spread than did the monaural engineering of the Epic disc and, of greater importance, tames the occasionally painful shrillness of that earlier edition. Moreover, this 99 is Szell's only recording of the work and is thus an essential component of his discography. It and 97 receive fleet, tautly controlled readings stamped by textural clarity featuring well-defined winds and brass and benefiting from Szell's sensitivity to motivic structure. I had always thought this 97 to be more intense than the conductor's stereo remake (currently available on a bargain Sony CD), but comparison reveals that this is mainly an illusion created by the dryness of the Epic version, recorded in a Severance Hall lacking the shell that was later added to enhance resonance and was in place when the remake was produced.

The reading of 98 (recorded in 1969) has been on CD for some time and should be more familiar. It is generally stylish, but a bit too bland and comfortable, lacking the flair and animation of the magnificent Toscanini and Colin Davis versions. In the main, however, this is a welcome reissue. Exposition repeats are observed in the first movements of 98 and 99, but not in the finale of the former or in the initial movement of 97.

-- Mortimer H. Frank, FANFARE

This is the second volume in the Doric String Quartet’s series devoted to Haydn’s String Quartets.

Op. 76 turned out to be the last full set of six string quartets that Haydn was to compose. While they were written over the period 1796-97, they were not published until 1799. They had been commissioned by Count Joseph Erdödy, and such arrangements often entailed, as in this case, a period of time during which the works were reserved for that person’s exclusive use and enjoyment.

The composition of Op. 76 coincided with Haydn’s work on Die Schöpfung and the first few of the six masses which Haydn wrote for the name day of Princess Maria Hermenegild Esterházy, and one can readily imagine that such compositional preoccupations rubbed off onto the composition of the quartets. However, that cannot be equated with a particular predominant ‘opus character’, a feature of some of Haydn’s previous sets. Rather – like Op. 20, also recently recorded by the Doric String Quartet – the quartets seem to be most remarkable for their sheer variety. If there is anything they take from works such as Die Schöpfung, it is sheer plurality of stylistic references, a sense of traversing an entire world of musical possibilities.

Learned and rustic elements, for instance, are given exceptionally vivid treatment, and there are also passages of the greatest intimacy and grandeur.

Haydn’s Symphonies Nos. 98 and 103 come from his set of 12 "London" symphonies, written at the height of his mastery and celebrity. With these pieces, Haydn accomplishes the rare feat of writing works that are both intellectually demanding and perfectly delightful. The recordings of Thomas Fey and his musicians are highly praised around the world for their personal expression, and precision of execution as well as their innate ability to detect the internal characterization of each movement.

This is the 21st CD of the complete recordings of the Haydn symphonies by Thomas Fey and the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra. Pizzicato praised Fey's interpretations of Haydn as 'mature and coherent.' It's a balanced performance of using historical performance practice, and modern strings and historic brass instruments.