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98.210.17.61
99 and 102 conducted by Woldike (sorry for the missing umlaut) on Vanguard Everyman - found a pristine copy for $2.99 last week. Really nice performances with better than average sound. The orchestra is slightly larger and the string sound more legato than we might hear in a modern recording but very much worth hearing. In his day, Woldike had quite a reputation among connoisseurs for Baroque and Classical music.
I am a big of a nut for Haydn symphonies. I have the complete Dorati set (on Decca no less, which I had imported from Australia - honestly, you can stick with the London STS issues - they are excellent) - but I do think that Dorati was showing the effects of ill health when he recorded the "London Symphonies" - they lack Dorati's well-known vigor, which you can hear in other volumes of this set. I have the Szell recordings, of course - they are excellent, and issues from Bernstein (GREAT Haydn conductor), Davis, Goberman (in the original issues, with scores), Leslie Jones, and so on, not to mention quite a few recordings on SACD and CD (such as the Scherchen recordings). If I seem them in the bin, I pick them up, although I have avoided the Beecham recordings, due to his use of corrupt scores, nor have I picked up the random recordings made by such as Klemperer - my esteem for his work is deep but narrow, and I just don't feel that he would be a match for Haydn.
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Well, besides the sharing aspect, of course -but the Janigro/Zagreb recordings, and the Zingarese Landler are not recordings I would have thought of on my own. Music is in many ways a quest, and it is great to hear about new works and performances where others have found great merit.
Wonderful early-morning coffee listening.
Again, fabulously-recorded and worth repeated listening, IMHO, even though the selections--dance music from England to Vienne are rustic and light-hearted.
These are my favorite versions of some of the Haydn symphonies. Too bad they did not get to record all of them. I've found seven volumes which is perhaps all that were released. Many of them are from the Sturm und Drang period of Haydn, another fertile time for him. Saga published the first two volumes and CBS/Sony did five more. The orchestra is purported to be the size that Haydn would have had at Esterhazy.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
The series was heavily digital, was it not? Not my favorite cup of tea, and for whatever reason I would listen to these and have no recollection afterwards of what I had heard.
There have been a number of aborted Haydn symphony series - Goodman was another, as was Hogwood. Tough sledding - lots of music, and not that wide of a market unless the symphony has a "name".
The first two volumes on Saga do not mention digital (1980). I guess they could have been. The CBS Masterworks record box sets are labeled digital. I acquired these before I learned that digital to vinyl was a bad thing. Fortunately, I had already enjoyed them so I have no problem with that. The art work (see the pic of the CBS volume) is rather spectacular, something you will never get with a CD. BTW, Roy Goodman is in the violin section. Another nice touch is H.C. Robbins Landon, the famous Haydn scholar, who did all the notes on the symphonies in this delightful series.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
Not everyone shares my aversion to digital to vinyl, but for me, especially in the early years of digital recording, it is a real turn off. Listen to, for example, the Solti Magic Flute (the first one, on LP with Burrows, Prey and Lorengar), which was recorded in the late 60s or early 70s, and then compare it with the Figaro done digitally in the early 80s.....huge difference and not to the benefit of Figaro. I also have a large number of Mozart piano concertos with Brendel and Marriner - the analog ones sound great, the digital, not. Or the Gardiner Messiah, which I still prefer performance wise to others - made in the mid-80s, sounds pretty bad IMHO.
I have John Fogarty's recent "Wrote a Song for Everyone", which is a set of duets of his works with some other singers, like Miranda Lambert, Dave Grohl and Brad Paisley - some really good work on it, but clearly a digital production, and the CCR stuff and Fogarty's earlier solo work sounds better - more depth, more snap, better colors.
So I tend not to enjoy digital stuff. I have found that SACD is more analog-like, although I also think that the best sounding Pentatone's, for example, were originally analog sourced. Kind of a bear, because many of the most interesting Handel and Bach recordings were being made in the digital years.
The musicians really get down and kick up the hay. No joke.
Astonishingly good Pontefract recording too, and no one want it. Won mine for $9.95 on Ebay.
Between the recorded sound, the exquisite HIP instrumental timbres and the catchy music, written during Haydn's Nashville period, (alleged), I'll buy it back if you don't like the Lp.
I agree with your appreciation of the Woldike performances - it seems strange that his reputation seemed to take such a nose dive after his death.
I've just been listening to the Janigro/Zagreb performances (which, like the Woldike performances, were originally issued on the Vanguard label) of the "Sturm und Drang" symphonies. We've got textual problems here too (e.g., the horns play an octave too low in the Maria Theresia Symphony), but the performances have a naturalness and inevitability that seem to be missing in so many other performances.
Regarding the London symphonies, I've also tired to keep in touch with some of the newer non-HIP performances too, such as Tate and Slatkin (I like the former a lot - I just wish he used a bigger orchestra - but the latter is a bit bland). Of course, there are many fine recordings of the individual symphonies too, such as Giulini in 94, Kubelik in 99, etc.
I can recommend the symphonies with Antal Dorati and Philharmonia Hungarica on Decca. Great performance and great recording
Loving my record cleaning machine, BTW, thanks again!
You're welcome.
Glad it found a good home!
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