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Haydn Symphonies - Complete

Jul 18, 2004 at 4:52 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 77
Tyson

Tyson

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Yep, picked up the box set of Haydn Symphonies today on Brilliant Classics conducted by Adam Fischer. I'm listening through it right now and have to say I'm impressed with how good the music actually is, I'm suprised Haydn doesn't have more mainstream music popularity. Sure, you see his "Seasons" or "Creation" works performed pretty often, but not the symphonies (and especially not the un-named symphonies). I had listened to Haydn symphonies before (mainly from the Dorati box set), but they had always come off sounding too "cheerful" to me, lacking much depth of emotion. The new Fischer set is a revelation, here is Haydn with all his wit and sophistication and beautiful sound intact, but counterbalanced by an underlying sense of deeper emotive waters. Highly recommended.

Haydn Symphonies

In fact, this set inspired me to also purchase the Beaux Arts complete set of Piano Trio's by Haydn.
 
Jul 18, 2004 at 7:03 PM Post #2 of 77
Jul 18, 2004 at 9:05 PM Post #3 of 77
I have four Brilliant Classics sets, The Mozart Masterworks, The Bach Masterworks(The short version 40CDs
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), The Vivaldi Masterworks and The Haydn Piano Sonatas. The pressings are variable The Mozart requiem is pretty unlistenable and the Bach Brandenburgs are so quiet that I have to crank up the volume really high but the performances are generally pretty good and they are always excellent value.
 
Jul 18, 2004 at 11:06 PM Post #5 of 77
Wow! You chaps are dedicated! Reminds me of a violin-maker I once met; I told her I was playing in some Mozart and Haydn quartets, and she said she was on her way through the whole quartet cycle... for a second time!

Sorry to distract the thread, but I really admire the concentration you must have!
 
Jul 19, 2004 at 2:47 PM Post #7 of 77
Almost did a spit take on the price, but for what you get, that's an excellent deal. Now the Complete Beethoven set....yikes...need to take out a loan for that sucker.

Scott
 
Jul 19, 2004 at 5:12 PM Post #8 of 77
Cardboard box and sleeves sleeves for the Fischer set. Even with the small packing factor, the box is still like 5 inches thick (same as the Dorati, I might add). Crazy.

Did some more extensive comparisons with my Dorati set last night. There are several advantages that Fischer exhibits. First and foremost is a vastly superior recorded sound. 2nd is a wider dynamic range. Not only does Fishcer play the louds louder and the softs softer, but he tends to be more fluid between those dynamics, giving the music a life and flow that Dorati misses. Dorati tends to stay loud all the time, and then rarely dip down to a softer volume. And even then, it tends to be all loud or all soft, with little in between. Another point in favor of Fischer is that his players are all really first rate, which is very important because Haydn includes so many solo and duo passages in the symphonies. With Dorati the simply sound like bridge passages, but with Fischer, the solo parts take on a timeless, magical quality.

As you can see, of the 2 the Fischer is easily the better set, at least IMO :-)
 
Jul 19, 2004 at 5:15 PM Post #9 of 77
Oh yes, Haydn Symphonies are among the most neglected masterpieces.
The best version to date for me is the (alas, unfinished!!!) set with Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music on M'Oiseau-Lyre that Decca let die with vol. 10 (out of 15). So symphonies nos. 76-104 have not been recorded... aarrgh!
As I quite like the "period" approach with Haydn I then turned to The Orchestra of the 18th Century under Brüggen on Philips for nos. 93-104 (which I like much more than for example Bernstein / NYP on Sony).
So, still looking for a few recordings to complete my Haydn collection from nos. 76-92... Any suggestions (not including another complete set! Am running permanently out of storage space!)?
 
Jul 19, 2004 at 6:16 PM Post #10 of 77
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyson
Cardboard box and sleeves sleeves for the Fischer set. Even with the small packing factor, the box is still like 5 inches thick (same as the Dorati, I might add). Crazy.

Did some more extensive comparisons with my Dorati set last night. There are several advantages that Fischer exhibits. First and foremost is a vastly superior recorded sound. 2nd is a wider dynamic range. Not only does Fishcer play the louds louder and the softs softer, but he tends to be more fluid between those dynamics, giving the music a life and flow that Dorati misses. Dorati tends to stay loud all the time, and then rarely dip down to a softer volume. And even then, it tends to be all loud or all soft, with little in between. Another point in favor of Fischer is that his players are all really first rate, which is very important because Haydn includes so many solo and duo passages in the symphonies. With Dorati the simply sound like bridge passages, but with Fischer, the solo parts take on a timeless, magical quality.

As you can see, of the 2 the Fischer is easily the better set, at least IMO :-)


Checked the newest Penguin Guide and they have long review of Fischer/Brilliant set 3 stars overall. They say the early recordings form late 1980's and early 1990's (1-24 and London Symphonies 88-104) have reverberant less detailed sound and around mid 1990's sound quality noticeably improves as does the performances and at this point they surpass the Dorati set overall. The last recordings 25-42 are supposed to be the best sound quality of any on the set.

Did you notice any difference between early recordings and latest ones?
 
Jul 19, 2004 at 6:52 PM Post #11 of 77
Haven't heard the late symphonies yet, still working my way toward them. I did hear the 1-24 symphonies, and while not as sharp and detailed as, say the 38-44 set, they are still pretty darn good, so if those are the "worst" sounding of the set, then even at their "worst", they still sound better than any of the recordings in the Dorati set. I'll let you know when I hit those late symphonies how they sound.
 
Jul 22, 2004 at 5:45 PM Post #12 of 77
Got around to listening to the "London" symphonies last night (skipped ahead to them actually), and it grieves me to say that these are not nearly as good as the early and middle symphonies in this set. It really is large scale and slow haydn in symphonies 90-104, and imo does not suit the music well at all. The set was worth it because so much of it is so good, I guess I'll have to supplement those last 14 symphonies with different performers, perhaps Goodman.
 
Jul 22, 2004 at 5:53 PM Post #13 of 77
Tyson, that's too bad. But how many Conductors could pull off ALL of the symphonies perfectly. Still staggering to think HOW much music Haydn wrote, just the symphonies alone. The man must have never slept!

Scott
 
Jul 22, 2004 at 6:45 PM Post #14 of 77
I got two more Haydn London sets recently:
Jochum/DG 92-104
Beecham/EMI 99-104

The Jochum is excellent with vigorous dramatic performances and highly detailed DG sound, this may be my reference for these symphonies. I would like to hear great authentic instrument version of these, similar to what Kuijken/Virgin did for Paris Symphonies.

The Beecham set is much different with broader more lyrical style which I don't like as much vs Jochum (or Davis, Dorati etc) The sound is also problematic with poorly balanced sound.....you must have balance control to make these sound good. Also last track of CD2 has large defect that stops playback, this was present on two different sets I tried. Perhaps it has been corrected by now?
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Jul 22, 2004 at 7:15 PM Post #15 of 77
DA, I notice the last disc of that set has Jochum with a few Orchestras, does the quality of the recordings hold together throughtout?

Scott
 
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