What superb music this is and what brilliant recordings and inspired interpretations, 30 years old but yielding "they are there in your room" ambience. To be honest I have not listened to all of these LPs but are now intent on doing so.

Any other Haydn fans out there?

Peace at AA

John

 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - Pat D 13:53:54 04/25/00 (0)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - edta 18:42:12 04/21/00 (0)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - Binayak Bhattacharyya 20:36:32 04/20/00 (1)

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 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - Pat D 13:53:54 04/25/00 (0)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - edta 18:42:12 04/21/00 (0)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - Binayak Bhattacharyya 20:36:32 04/20/00 (1)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - TonyHS 08:21:46 04/21/00 (0)
 Ah, Haydn! - BobH 15:52:35 04/20/00 (3)
 Where can you get the Dorati CD set? - Steven Waugh 22:59:20 04/20/00 (1)
 Still looking . . . - BobH 13:08:19 04/21/00 (0)
 Yep, as an ex-mathematician, I cannot count! (nt) - John C. - Aussie 18:18:08 04/20/00 (0)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - Dr. T 15:38:27 04/20/00 (3)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - patrick S 18:22:11 04/20/00 (2)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - Brian Cheney 19:56:42 04/20/00 (1)
 Re: Those lovely Haydn Symphonies - patrick C 21:36:11 04/20/00 (0)

I bought the Dorati LPs as they came out in the '70s as a poor grad student (who needs food?). Donated them to a library in '90. Got the new CD set in December for Christmas (wonderful woman!). I have listened to the whole set more than once since then. Jumped around to favorites and then went 1-107. I will admit that there are times you can use Haydn as background music but then he throws something at you that is just devasting! I drop my pen, or whatever and play it over again. There are moments like that all through the set. Was listening to 103 this morning. I ramble, but so do Mahlerians . . .

And the sound is better than the '70s LPs. By the way, 104+A+B+SymConc = 107. What are the other 4?

i, too, am a Haydn fan. one must, if one has any claim to any meaningful understanding of what we could call Ancient Dead White Man's Soul Music (i'm being purposefully ugly here---i trust you understand---devil's advocate sort of stuff), know and have some sort of feel for Haydn to understand where Beethoven came from and where Mozart sat to learn. i think that Haydn is the most underestimated (here in the U.S., at least) of all the great composers. how can you not love someone who says that, being isolated in the Esterhazy (sp)court, that, deprived of influence, he was forced to be original? i have the feeling that Haydn and Mozart would have got on swimmingly, and that, unless one has internalized the music of this giant, one cannot appreciate all that ugly music of Mahler, Bruckner, et al...and thanks for raising this often ignored point.

BTW, though it's anethemia on this board, Bernstein's Haydn is awfully good. who woulda thought?

patrick S (the dumb guy who roams the sewers, baying at the imagined moon)

Bernstein was a Haydn specialist and everyone should investigate his recordings of the "Paris" symphonies plus a few of the London. Sir Thomas Beecham was the great interpreter of the Londons, both in mono and stereo with the RPO and the LPO. Dorati's set is fine for the earlier works but can't keep up in the big numbers. There are great individual Haydn recordings from Walter and Furtwaengler, Reiner, Klemperer and Toscanini. Check em all out.

Big B

An awesome CD, the Haydn performances are gorgeous.

Another great set on LP is the Eugen Jochum/London Philharmonic set of symphonies 99-104 on DG 2864002. Jochum, as is his wont brings a tremendous breadth and richness of texture to these symphonies.

Binayak

despite what everyone says, you're really o.k.

patrick S

ps i won't tell anyone.

Let's just say I enjoyed the Haydn and not the Bruckner. I'm pretty much still of that opinion 26 years later.

Haydn was the first symphonist. He was a master. I still have many of the Dorati LP box sets. I also have several George Szell LPs and CDs.

George Szell was another great interpreter of this music and worth exploring for anyone who likes Haydn.

One of the first Haydn symphonies I bought on LP was no. 94, of course, with Josef Krips on a London STS LP, and it is great.

For the Paris Symphonies, I have Marriner and the ASMF on a Philips 2 CD set, and I enjoy them, especially no. 82, "The Bear." Though the older Ansermet recordings were enjoyable, I must say these beat them, and the sound is better, too. A friend of mine has the more expensive Kuijken recordings, but I really like the Marriner set so am not looking for another.

A number of the Naxos recordings are quite good, especially those with Nicholas Ward and the Norther Chamber Orchestra. They do no. 22, "The Philosopher," quite well, although the other two on the disc are not so well recorded. The CD with nos. 23, 24, and 61, is quite wonderful, and there is a beautiful slow movement in no. 24 with a flute solo, very well recorded. Nos. 77, 78 and 79 are also very well done. No. 77 is a delightful work. I have not much liked the performances of 54, 56, 57 and 74, 75, 76 with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra under Helmut Muhler-Bruhl, which seem too straigtforward, although the sound is good.

AS Dr. T and others have pointed out, one does not have to be lugubrious to be a great composer. Haydn's music always seems endlessly inventive.