Haydn Box Set Bargain

[maestrob]

Adam Fischer's complete Haydn Symphonies has been playing on my system on and off since I received it several years ago, giving me great pleasure. That set is included in this magnificent 160CD box st, priced for gift-giving on amazon for $199 with free shipping. The set includes only one opera, but does include the complete string quartets, the Masses and numerous other goodies. This is a great deal for the Haydn fanatic or for one just beginning to explore his music.

[Lance]

This set I don't have, but do have almost everything of Haydn. One of the greats, for sure! 160 discs of music by one man. Amazing what we can do today!

[John F]

Adam Fischer's recordings of all the Haydn symphonies are online here:

http://www.haydn107.com/index.php

You have a choice between Fischer's recordings, Doati's, and (shudder) Hogwood's. My preference is Dorati, whose tempos sometimes suit the music better than the others'. For example, in the early G minor symphony's first movement, here's Dorati:

http://www.haydn107.com/index.php?id=21 ... ser=dorati

Fischer:

http://www.haydn107.com/index.php?id=21 ... er=fischer

[Modernistfan]

I most definitely am no fan of Hogwood, particularly in the London symphonies (Nos. 93-104). I had the Hogwood many years ago and dumped it; like nearly all period-instrument recordings I have had the misfortune to hear, he badly underplays the "surprise" in the slow movement of Symphony No. 94, all but wrecking the piece. Give me Colin Davis, Eugen Jochum, Leonard Bernstein, or even Georg Solti or Leonard Slatkin with their "unfashionable" and "inauthentic" big orchestras any time for those symphonies!

[Belle]

Well, this Haydn Symphony No. 94 with Concentus Musicus/Harnoncourt is simply wonderful!! I wouldn't be without it: Austrian composer, orchestra and (virtually) conductor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuU4wrZrSe0

[barney]

Brian, how did you fit it in your apartment?

[maestrob]

Brian, how did you fit it in your apartment?

I haven't bought it........yet!

[maestrob]

Adam Fischer's recordings of all the Haydn symphonies are online here:

http://www.haydn107.com/index.php

You have a choice between Fischer's recordings, Doati's, and (shudder) Hogwood's. My preference is Dorati, whose tempos sometimes suit the music better than the others'. For example, in the early G minor symphony's first movement, here's Dorati:

http://www.haydn107.com/index.php?id=21 ... ser=dorati

Fischer:

http://www.haydn107.com/index.php?id=21 ... er=fischer

Thanks for that comparison, John. I like Dorati also, but I find that Fischer has a more transparent sound, and he explores Haydn's sound world with a more HIP approach, which I enjoy. De gustibus.....

[diegobueno]

Just a few years ago I bought the earlier incarnation of the Brilliant Classics Haydn Edition, and now I see they've improved it. Durn..

I love the Fischer performances of the symphonies, as well as the Buchberger Quartet's performances of the string quartets. I was really annoyed that the set I bought didn't quite include all of the quartets. If I remember correctly there were 3 of the op. 50 quartets missing, and even worse, 3 of the op. 76! How can you have a set of Haydn quartets without all of op. 76? I think the Buchbergers' label must have made a deal whereby Brilliant had to leave some quartets out so that listeners would still have to buy the separate discs of the missing quartets from the original label.

I found that after one disc of Scottish folk songs and one disc of baryton trios I didn't really need any more of the same.

One great discovery which I enjoy very greatly is the choral version of The Seven Last Words. Haydn wrote this late in life, after hearing someone else's attempt to make it an oratorio. He thought he could do a better job of it, and he did. Plus the orchestration is expanded from the original 1786 version, the "words" themselves are intoned a cappella by the chorus before each number, and there's a marvelous interlude just for the wind section in the middle.

[RebLem]

I already bought the symphonies, this offering is just abusive. I'm not going to fall for it.

[Lance]

Of the complete Haydn symphonies, it was always my desire to have them on the Decca label [478 1221, 33 CDs with alternative versions] and since 2009 I have enjoyed that set completely. Stunning sound as well. I liked what Dorati did so much in his Haydn I went for his complete Haydn operas [Decca 478 1776, 20 CDs, originally on Philips]. He recorded a great Creation as well. While some might not like to "pigeonhole" performing artists, I think Dorati was a Haydn scholar in the best sense of that term. If complete sets are what people want, they cannot go wrong with Dorati. Haydn's name appears about 790 times in my catalogue of his works on CDs ... of course many duplications, etc. of repertoire. In many ways I never figured Dorati received his full due as one of the great conductors of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the great Hungarian ones. Dorati appears on almost 100 CDs of material he recorded in my catalogue lineup. He collaborated with many superb artists on discs, including Artur Rubinstein, András Schiff, Pinchas Zukerman, Yehudi Menuhin, Janos Starker, Byron Janis, Paul Tortelier, Gina Bachauer, Mischa Elman, Ginette Neveu, Nathan Milstein, William Kapell, Walter Gieseking, and many others, plus a whole host of singers. Just my two cents!

[RebLem]

I agree that Dorati is an underrated conductor--one of my favorites is his Bartok Bluebeard's Castle.

I like Dorati's Haydn, too, but my favorite Haydn symphony recordings are the partial set by Sigiswald Kuijken and the La Letite Bande Orchestra. He recorded Symphonies 26, 52, 53, and 82-104 + the Sinfonia Concertante in B Flat and the Sinfonias A & B.

[Lance]

Ah, Haydn's 53rd Symphony, "The Imperial." Rarely does anyone mention that symphony. I first heard it performed by Leopold Stokowski and His Symphony Orchestra on an RCA Victor LP (which I still have), and happily it found its way to a Cala CD [0532]. Reb, what is your take on this 53rd? I am totally unfamiliar with La Letite Bande Orchestra, or at least it doesn't ring an immediate bell. The Dorati set on the 53rd offers alternate takes, making it a little more interesting!

I agree that Dorati is an underrated conductor--one of my favorites is his Bartok Bluebeard's Castle.

I like Dorati's Haydn, too, but my favorite Haydn symphony recordings are the partial set by Sigiswald Kuijken and the La Letite Bande Orchestra. He recorded Symphonies 26, 52, 53, and 82-104 + the Sinfonia Concertante in B Flat and the Sinfonias A & B.