Haydn Recordings: A Legacy Reconsidered By ANTHONY TOMMASINI, ALLAN KOZINN, STEVE SMITH and VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

September 11, 2009
Haydn Recordings: A Legacy Reconsidered By ANTHONY TOMMASINI, ALLAN KOZINN, STEVE SMITH and VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Half a century ago the classical music world ranked Franz Joseph Haydn more or less on a par with Mozart. Then the Mostly Mozart and "Amadeus" industries uncovered a sex appeal in Mozart that Papa Haydn could never rival. Still, his achievement remains stunning in its vastness, inspiration and artistry, and he has continued to be well served by recordings. To commemorate the bicentennial of Haydn's death, the classical music critics of The New York Times look back over those recordings and suggest their favorites. JAMES R. OESTREICH

Here are several favorite Haydn recordings of the classical music critics of The New York Times. The CDs range in price from $6.99 for a single CD to $26.98 for four CDs; the 12-CD set is $79.98; and the 33-CD set is $98.19. (An introduction appears on Page C1.)

ANTHONY TOMMASINI

'LONDON' SYMPHONIES (12), 'PARIS' SYMPHONIES (6), 'DIE SCHÖPFUNG,' MASSES (4) Vocal soloists; choruses; New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein (Sony Classical 88697480452; 12 CDs). 'THE SEASONS' Vocal soloists; Beecham Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Beecham (EMI Classics 5 86118 2; two CDs).

STRING QUARTETS (OP. 76, 77, 103) Amadeus Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon 289 471 762-2; three CDs).

PIANO SONATAS (5) Leif Ove Andsnes, pianist (EMI Classics 5 56756 2; CD).

'ORLANDO PALADINO' Vocal soloists; Concentus Musicus Wien, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 82876 73370 2; two CDs).

EVEN now, many music lovers think of Haydn as a master, of course, but no Mozart. Yet comparing these composers, who were fast friends from different generations, misses the point. Mozart was a man of the theater by nature. Haydn was not. It is more telling to link Haydn with Beethoven.

Everything Beethoven knew about the technique of generating entire sonatas and symphonies from a handful of motifs, used like building blocks, he learned from Haydn. Haydn was the wittiest composer who ever lived, and among the most wildly inventive. Still a great Haydn performance must also convey the structural, Beethovenian grandeur of the music.

For me two conductors who really got this were Leonard Bernstein and Thomas Beecham. Sony Classical has issued a comprehensive collection of Bernstein's Haydn recordings with the New York Philharmonic from the 1960s and '70s, a 12-disc set containing the 12 "London" Symphonies, the 6 "Paris" Symphonies, the late oratorio "Die Schöpfung" ("The Creation") and 4 Masses. One item, the "Theresienmesse" from 1979, features the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. For the rest the performances are as enthralling as I remember them from my youth.

Bernstein captures not just the wit, daring, darkness and tenderness of the music but the immensity. These are the performances of a fellow composer intent on simply showing us how these pieces go. Here, in one purchase, you can have a comprehensive Haydn collection.

When Haydn went to London later in his life, he was astonished to discover how popular he was there. Beecham, with his refinement and droll British humor, brings out Haydn's inner Englishman. A typically revelatory recording is his 1956 account of the oratorio "The Seasons," performed in English, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Beecham Choral Society and fine vocal soloists.

Haydn essentially invented the string quartet as we know it. Among the many splendid recordings, I keep going back to those of the great Amadeus Quartet, founded in London in 1947 with three Viennese and one British player. The group brings an Old World Viennese sensibility to its warm, vibrant accounts, an authority that comes through without a trace of entitlement. A three-disc collection offers its classic accounts of nine late quartets, including the astonishing six works of Opus 76.

Talk about astonishing, there is the pianist Leif Ove Andsnes's recording of five Haydn sonatas, Nos. 24, 30, 32, 33 and 44, from a decade ago. Mr. Andsnes plays these works with elegance, inventiveness and superb pianism. In the fast movements, like the Presto finale of the Sonata No. 30 in B minor, he takes daringly quick tempos. Yet the runs ripple by with uncanny clarity and effortless grace.

Haydn wrote most of his operas for performance at his patron's court. So he never really had a chance to put on shows for the public and learn what works in the theater. Still, Haydn's fantastical "Orlando Paladino," which he called a heroic-comic drama, is clever and engaging, qualities that abound in the recording by the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt with a fine cast, including Patricia Petibon and Michael Schade, and the period-instrument orchestra Concentus Musicus Wien.

ALLAN KOZINN

'DIE SCHöPFUNG' Vocal soloists; Stockholm Radio Chorus and Stockholm Chamber Choir; Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by James Levine (Deutsche Grammophon 427 629-2; two CDs).

'NELSON' MASS, 'THERESIENMESSE,' TE DEUM Vocal soloists; Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Philips 470 286-2; two CDs).

'LONDON' SYMPHONIES, VOLUME 1 Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Colin Davis (Philips 442 611-2; two CDs).

STRING QUARTETS (12) Lindsays (Resonance RSB 407; four CDs).

PIANO SONATAS, VOLUME 2 Marc-André Hamelin, pianist (Hyperion CDA67710; two CDs).

ONE way to approach Haydn is by starting at the beginning: not the beginning of Haydn, but the beginning of the universe (or at least the opening chapters of the Bible, leavened with passages from Milton's "Paradise Lost"). In the magnificent oratorio "The Creation" Haydn took a page from Handel's playbook, shaping his music to illustrate vividly and even expand on the events described in the libretto. You can savor the effect in the opening moments: a harmonically adventurous orchestral Largo suggests the dark mysteries of the unformed cosmos, and a soft-hued choral texture explodes into a fortissimo blaze on the final word of the phrase "and there was light."

James Levine, presiding over a modern-instrument orchestra and what sounds like a hefty choir, leads a robust performance with a finely balanced solo cast: Kathleen Battle, Gosta Winbergh and Kurt Moll. The choir is at its best in the several exuberant choruses praising God's majesty and power.

Haydn is nearly as descriptive and dramatic in the series of great Masses he composed from 1796 to 1802, but instead of painting biblical tableaus, he captures the deepest emotions of a prayerful supplicant. The "Missa in Angustiis" ("Mass in Time of Stress," 1798), popularly known as the "Nelson" Mass, reflects the fears and turmoil of life in Austria during the Napoleonic Wars. Its brass and percussion writing does double duty, evoking both the military spirit of the age and the glory of God's judgment. But a sense of desperation pervades the work as well: listen to the emphatic setting of the Credo and the assertive, pleading quality of the "Dona nobis pacem" ("Grant us peace").

Those qualities come through electrifyingly in John Eliot Gardiner's recording with his period-instrument band and expert choir. And Mr. Gardiner offers illuminating contrasts by way of the celebratory Te Deum and the more lyrical, shapely "Theresienmesse."

Anyone interested in Haydn's symphonies really should examine the full range, which has few weak spots and traces both Haydn's development and changes in his listeners' tastes. But if you want to dabble, the late "London" Symphonies catch Haydn at his most commanding. Colin Davis's traversal is available in two double-CD sets, and Volume 1 (Symphonies Nos. 95, 96, 98, 102-4) is marginally preferable, if only because it gives you the "Drum Roll," "London" and "Miracle" Symphonies. Yet both sets are enlivened by Mr. Davis's wit and vitality and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's rich sound.

Fine recordings of the string quartets are plentiful these days, but few groups capture their ingenuity, boldness and sheer beauty as thoroughly as the Lindsays, a British quartet that broke up in 2005. Its compilation brings together several favorites — the "Lark," "Sun," "Fifths" and "Emperor" Quartets, among them — in appealingly earthy performances recorded live in London in 1987.

Haydn's piano sonatas, though not as dazzling as Mozart's or as titanic as Beethoven's, are worth knowing for their consummate gracefulness and invention. The latest installment of Marc-André Hamelin's survey in progress, including 11 works, benefits from crisp, focused playing and the kind of linear transparency that gets to the core of Haydn's resourcefulness and originality in, for example, the expansive variations of the Sonata in F minor, misleadingly titled "Un Piccolo Divertimento."

STEVE SMITH

SYMPHONIES (COMPLETE) Philharmonia Hungarica, conducted by Antal Dorati (Decca 478 1221-0; 33 CDs).

PIANO TRIOS (6) Patrick Cohen, fortepianist; Erich Höbarth, violinist; Christophe Coin, cellist (Harmonia Mundi HMX 2968298.99; two CDs).

PIANO SONATAS NOS. 32, 34, 42; OTHER WORKS Alfred Brendel, pianist (Philips B000316302; CD).

'DIE SCHÖPFUNG' Vocal soloists; Balthasar-Neumann Chorus and Ensemble, conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 05472 77537 2; two CDs).

'DIE JAHRESZEITEN' Vocal soloists; RIAS Chamber Chorus, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, conducted by René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi HMC 901829.30; two CDs).

EVEN with a recording industry in crisis, a new complete cycle of Beethoven's nine symphonies turns up seemingly every year. By comparison, only a handful of artists have recorded all of Haydn's symphonies. Antal Dorati and the Philharmonia Hungarica were the first, taping the 104 numbered symphonies along with alternative versions and other extras for Decca from 1969 to 1972. Their cycle remains eminently recommendable, especially in a newly issued, budget-price boxed set. True, minuet movements can be stolid by today's standards, and conductors like Eugen Jochum, Leonard Bernstein, Colin Davis and Trevor Pinnock recorded portions of this huge body of work to more stirring effect. Still, no performance in this milestone set lacks style or charm.

Haydn's string quartets require no special pleading; fine recordings abound, and every home should have one. I am partial to those by the Mosaïques Quartet, a period-instrument group whose renditions were recently reissued by Naïve in two boxed sets. Two members of that ensemble, the violinist Erich Höbarth and the cellist Christophe Coin, have also devoted welcome attention to Haydn's piano trios, a comparatively overlooked body of work that includes some of his most effervescent music.

Patrick Cohen, a stylish pianist, plays historically appropriate fortepianos in the six works found on a recent Harmonia Mundi set (Nos. 32-37), producing a light, lithe sound that never overwhelms that of his collaborators. (For those who insist on modern instruments, the Beaux Arts Trio's comprehensive Philips set remains the gold standard.)

Likewise, Haydn's piano sonatas have never attracted as much attention as his symphonies and string quartets, but the pianist Alfred Brendel made a specialty of them in concert and on records. On a disc featuring three sonatas (in E minor, B minor and D), the Fantasia in C and the Adagio in F, Mr. Brendel's playing is a model of lucid insight and tasteful expression. Dip a toe in here, or take a real plunge and pick up Mr. Brendel's four-disc Philips collection, which includes this program and more.

The two great oratorios, "Die Schöpfung" ("The Creation") and "Die Jahreszeiten" ("The Seasons"), have never lacked for first-rate interpretations, with classic accounts by conductors like Herbert von Karajan, Thomas Beecham and Georg Solti still holding places in the catalog. But Thomas Hengelbrock's account of "The Creation," issued in 2002, demands attention. His period-instrument players are electrifying in the opening conjuration of chaos; the vocal soloists are fresh-voiced and commanding. René Jacobs works similar magic with "The Seasons," conveying the work's dazzling colors and elemental energy like no one else.

VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

PIANO SONATAS (5) Emanuel Ax, pianist (Sony Classical SK 89363; CD).

PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 3, 4, 11 Leif Ove Andsnes, pianist and conductor; Norwegian Chamber Orchestra (EMI Classics 5 56960 2; CD).

SYMPHONIES NOS. 88-92, SINFONIA CONCERTANTE Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Simon Rattle (EMI Classics 3 94237 2; two CDs).

VIOLIN CONCERTOS NOS. 1, 3, 4 Augustin Hadelich, violinist; Cologne Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Helmut Müller-Brühl (Naxos 8.570483; CD).

'THE CREATION' Vocal soloists; Gabrieli Consort and Players, conducted by Paul McCreesh (Deutsche Grammophon Archiv 477 7361-0; two CDs).

HAYDN, who was not a virtuoso performer on the keyboard like Beethoven or Mozart, relied on it to help him compose symphonies and works in other genres. "My imagination plays on me as if I were a clavier," he told a friend. His piano sonatas are among the highlights of his output.

Playing with warmth, insight and singing lines, the superb pianist Emanuel Ax offers gracious renditions of five of Haydn's piano sonatas, including the technically demanding No. 46 and the brooding No. 36, dedicated to two sisters in Vienna. (The Hoboken numberings used here differ from those on the disc.) The CD also features elegant interpretations of the Sonatas Nos. 33 (whose slow movement Mr. Ax plays beautifully) and 43, both lighthearted works that Haydn wrote for the amateur market.

Haydn's piano concertos are often more like chamber works than solo showpieces. The Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 are scored for only keyboard and strings; oboes and horns are added in the Concerto No. 11. The stellar Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes plays and conducts the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra in buoyant, deeply expressive performances full of warmth and charm. The lithe, crisp playing of the orchestra complements Mr. Andsnes's sparkling finger work.

As with some of the piano concertos ascribed to Haydn, only four of the violin concertos that have been attributed to him are actually his, and one is lost. The talented young violinist Augustin Hadelich plays the three surviving works, written to highlight the virtuosity of Luigi Tomasini, the concertmaster in Haydn's orchestra at the Esterhazy court. Mr. Hadelich (supplying his own cadenzas) offers fiery, nuanced and expressive playing, with the conductor Helmut Müller-Brühl eliciting spirited performances from the Cologne Chamber Orchestra.

Simon Rattle, primarily known as a champion of contemporary music, has called Haydn "our greatest neglected composer," and he clearly empathizes with the music. He leads the Berlin Philharmonic in the Symphonies Nos. 88 to 92 and the Sinfonia Concertante for violin, cello, oboe and bassoon, aptly mining the score for its humor, invention and profundity. Mr. Rattle illuminates the work's surprising twists with clearly etched phrasing, a crisp approach, plenty of dynamic contrast and a nod to period practice.

Although initially hesitant to step on the toes of Handel, then the leading composer of oratorios in London, Haydn did write his own: the magnificent "Creation." Paul McCreesh conducts the period-instrument Gabrieli Consort and Players and a strong cast of soloists, including Sandrine Piau, Miah Persson, Mark Padmore, Neal Davies and Peter Harvey in a dramatically vivid interpretation of Haydn's crowning achievement. Sung in English (as Haydn preferred), with a revised libretto by Mr. McCreesh and with the large-scale choral and orchestral forces used during the 1799 premiere in London, this is a thrilling performance.
From Symphonies to Sonatas, Favorite Haydn Recordings - NYTimes.com (12 September 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/arts/music/11haydn.html?sq=Haydn&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print
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