This is the greatest prize in a rich harvest of releases marking the Haydn bicentenary -- from the early works to the mature masterpieces, Haydn's...

This is the greatest prize in a rich harvest of releases marking the Haydn bicentenary -- from the early works to the mature masterpieces, Haydn's music is arguably more consistently inventive and inspired than Mozart's.-- David Threasher, Gramophone [1/2009]

I’ve spent the better part of four weeks listening to these performances – and other recordings of the works – and, despite my few niggles, I can heartily recommend this set for anyone interested in this great composer, who does seem to languish in Mozart’s shadow more than he should. With such good sound, in general, at the price this constitutes a considerable bargain. -- Bob Briggs, MusicWeb International

This mammoth survey of the complete Symphonies by the man who really got things going symphonically, started in 1988 and finished as recently as July last year. It takes in venues all over eastern and western Europe as well as Canada.

Before playing a disk I was happy to note that we weren’t reliant on one set of performers – as was Decca with its set of the Symphonies with Antal Doráti and the Philharmonia Hungarica – and as these re–issues retain their original couplings you can’t hear the works chronologically without changing disks often. But this makes for more interesting programming – rather like the lovely recordings of Leslie Jones and his Little Orchestra of London’s recordings for Pye which mixed early, middle and late Symphonies together on one LP.

So after those thoughts, and listing the details of the recordings and performers to accompany this review, my next task was to decide where to begin. Much as I love Haydn’s music I cannot claim to know every Symphony intimately, so it seemed best to start with a work which is a particular favourite. The 48th Symphony, nick–named Maria Theresia, has long been of one my favourites, ever since I heard the Max Goberman recording which contains the most sensational horn playing I’ve ever heard. I was very pleased to hear Barry Wordsworth grab the bull by the horns, or perhaps the horns by the baton, and start in a most thrilling way, the horns singing out and the textures clear and direct. Unfortunately, this direct approach doesn’t last. These so–called Sturm und Drang Symphonies are dramatic in their intent and are full of incident, passion and fire. The 44th and 45th Symphonies are given light–weight, in fact far too light–weight, performances which suit the middle movements but lack sufficient bite for the turmoil of the outer movements and thus the drama of the music is lost in favour of a more charming approach. The same is true for the first two movements of No.88, but then, suddenly, in the minuet of No.88 everything takes off with a spritely and very dynamic gait. This performance has purpose and the finale is simply sparkling – if a trifle on the slow side. After this, their other three disks are wholly successful. Each of the Symphonies is given a sparkling performance, with well judged tempi, plenty of light and shade and the humour, there’s a lot of humour in Haydn, is very well pointed. The smallish orchestra is well focused in the recording, if perhaps with a little too much reverberation, and the sound is good if a bit too bright; too much top and not enough bottom. But I mustn’t be churlish for there is much to enjoy in these performances.

I find it fascinating at the distribution of the music, for instance, there’s only one disk by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, but there’s six by the Northern Chamber Orchestra and eight each by the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and the Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia. I mention this because the Swedish disk is marvellous, comprising three Symphonies from the middle of the canon – Nos. 50, 51 and 52 – in performances which are suave and perfectly paced. These are an excellent example of how to perform music of this period – nothing is hurried, everything falls perfectly into place and there is a fine sense of style. No.50 is a real winner. Here is Haydn, having emerged from the troubles of the Sturm und Drang period, in a more mature guise than we have so far heard him, indulging in jokes and jests and generally having an high old time. The real highlight of this disk is the adagio of No.51 which contains some exhilarating horn playing. Throughout this is most satisfying and pleasurable listening. Certainly this is one of the very best disks in the set, and it makes me wish that the orchestra had had another disk or two. Good though the Wordsworth performances are, these knock them into the shade for their style. The recording is better too, being clear but without the glassiness.

The Sinfonia Finlandia is allocated three disks and two of them comprise nine of the first 12 Symphonies so, with no disrespect to Haydn, it doesn’t have the best material to work with. That said, it plays these early pieces with a style and verve which I wouldn’t have expected. There is a virility to much of the playing as well as the most affecting tenderness, as in the slow movement of the No.3. If, perhaps, things get a little carried away and the conductor starts to drive the music this is a small problem for the fast finales can stand a bit of pushing, and, strangely, this approach makes the music seem bigger than it actually is. My favoured recording for these early works, and I am no lover or supporter of original instruments performance, has long been the two boxed sets by L’estro armonico and Derek Solomons but these Finnish performances are equally enjoyable and give Solomon and his band a real run for their money. The recordings are very close and the harpsichord is only sporadically Noticeable, not really a flaw but it would have been nice to feel its presence in the ensemble, after all, it was necessary at the time and these performances are trying to have the right feel to them. Their other CD is a diverse mix and it makes for an attractive programme. No.22 has a small cadenza for the harpsichord between the slow introduction and the main allegro and after that the instrument is silent. These are lively performances, slightly hard driven in the fast movements but entertaining and pleasing. What a fine chamber orchestra the Sinfonia Finlandia is, and their contribution to this set is made all the more significant by their strong advocacy of the very early works.

I’d never heard of the Toronto Camerata before receiving this set. It’s a good small band with bright strings and brilliant winds and brass. Kevin Mallon is a good conductor and directs unfussy performances of, mainly, early Symphonies. He certainly understands the challenges this music sets – it’s new, in a fledgling form and is still feeling its way forwards and as there’s no deep emotion with which to impress your audience, you don’t make big production numbers out of them. These three disks are very good indeed except the harpsichord is seldom audible – which turns out to be the norm throughout the set – and, for some reason there’s an harpsichord in the performance of the 62nd Symphony; surely, by now, Haydn wouldn’t have been using a continuo instrument. No.20 is especially thrilling in its use of trumpets and drums. The two operatic Overtures make fine stable-mates for the Symphonies.

The six CDs by the Northern Chamber Orchestra cover the canon from the earliest (Nos 6, 7 and 8) to No.79. Highlights include a splendid account of No.22, with fabulous horns and cor anglais, the right tone is hit from the start and this, sometimes, dour work – it is quite dark – comes out fresh and sparkling. This is very impressive. There’s also some fine solo string playing in the three early works. There is a real swagger to the outer movements of No.35, and a suavity to the slow movement. No.49 starts with a slow movement filled with heartbreaking pathos, the two fast movements are full of the stresses and strains found in these Sturm und Drang works, and both are fast paced manic performances. No.60 isn’t really a Symphony, it’s six movements cobbled together from incidental music Haydn wrote for a theatre production and includes some of his best jokes. The 2nd, slow, movement is interrupted by a jaunty march and the finale includes a short section where the violins have to retune. In this performance the jokes are well placed and Not overdone, making the performance a real joy. The last disk contains three mature Symphonies – Nos. 77, 78 and 79 – which are given light performances and here I would have preferred more heft for these are big works and need an heavier hand at the helm and a bigger band. That said, these are very fine performances, well thought out and executed, and I do enjoy Ward’s often relaxed way with the music – the opening movement of No.79 is particularly delightful with its main theme which reminds one of Ernest Tomlinson’s lovely Little Serenade! There’s an harpsichord in there, somewhere, in the early works, and it occasionally surfaces, but it’s too often lost in the texture, mainly through a backward balance.

The final two orchestras – the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and the Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia – each have eight disks, encompassing nearly half the canon. To look at the Cologne performances first – the first movement of No.13 is sparkling but the sound is tubby and much detail is lost; there is also an huge rallentando over the final chords which sounds grotesque. The slow movement, with its eloquent solo cello part, is lovely, if rather rich in sound; it is recorded very closely which robs the music of its intimacy. The finale, with its fugue theme identical to Mozart’s in K551, comes off quite well, except for the rallentando at the end. No.36 fares better, as does the Sinfonia Concertante, but the constant braking at cadence points had, by the cadenza in the first movement of the Sinfonia, started to really annoy me as a self conscious mannerism. Their second disk, of Nos. 32, 33 and 34 is much better. Müller–Brühl seems more contented here, and the recording is much clearer, but the Symphonies have too much in common to make a really interesting, and varied, programme. Disk 14 starts with a marvellously paced No.37 but Müller–Brühl’s interpretations only really get going with the arrival of a minor key work – No.39. This is splendidly performed, full of angst and worry, which makes the brightness of No.40 all the more welcome and enjoyable. These three CDs suffer from backwardly placed brass, winds and drums. The first chord of No.41, on CD 15, is perfectly balanced by the engineer and the sound is wonderfully clear with a real bite to it, and this suits the performance which is straight forward and brisk in a very forthright manner. I enjoyed this performance greatly! No.58 brought an even greater revelation – the first fully audible harpsichord I’d heard so far! And what a joy it is to hear its contribution. No.59 is simply more of the same with a very bright performance. As for the rest of the performances by the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, highlights include a tremendous performance of the finale of No.54, and a gorgeous slow movement in No.57, full of poise and restraint. No.75 is as good as it gets in these Cologne performances, spritely outer movements, a delightful slow movement and a minuet which nicely dances along, and the japes of No.80 are truly side splitting! In general these Cologne performances are a bit of a mixed bag, with some really exciting and fine performances but the strange balance in their first three CDs doesn’t help their cause. But it must be emphasized that when the performances take off then there is much to enjoy, but beware Müller–Brühl’s putting in the brakes at the ends of some movements for it does become irritating.

And so to the eight CDs by Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia under the direction of Béla Drahos. Things get off to a bright start with a sparkling No.27, and the Hornsignal is quite marvellous, with forthright horns, sounding much more romantic and Schumannesque than Haydnesque but making the most of their exhilarating writing. There is a disturbing edginess to parts of the first movement of No.53 – one of the first works after the Sturm und Drang period – so Drahos is quite right to point the hangover effect of the earlier pieces. Other highlights of the Drahos CDs are the slow movement of No.68, which displays a rapt attention to detail, the 1st movement of No.73 which has lots of mystery and excitement and the first movement of No.93 which, if a trifle hard driven, has exactly the right spirit for the music. However, I do question the validity of the use of harpsichord continuo in No.72 – by 1781 Haydn would undoubtedly have stopped using a keyboard continuo in his works.

I’ve kept the best until last. The Laudon Symphony (No. 69) must be sampled for this is simply the best interpretation of the set – it has everything and is exactly how later Haydn should be presented to the public.

I’ve spent the better part of four weeks listening to these performances – and other recordings of the works – and, despite my few niggles, I can heartily recommend this set for anyone interested in this great composer, who does seem to languish in Mozart’s shadow more than he should. With such good sound, in general, at the price this constitutes a considerable bargain.

I might mention that for comparison purposes I used the various Leslie Jones/Little Orchestra of London recordings on Pye Golden Guinea and Nonesuch LPs (various Symphonies), Antonio Janigro and the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Zagreb in their 1963 set of the Sturm und Drang works (Nos. 44 – 49) originally on Philips LPs and now on Vanguard W 51184 (2 CDs), Derek Solomons and L’estro armonico in various works (SAGA HAYDN 1 and 2 – LP only) Beecham’s idiosyncratic, but always revealing and interesting, set of the London Symphonies on EMI 367 8932 (5 disks) and the very special Max Goberman recordings, with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra (had Goberman lived he would have made the first complete recordings of these works and what a set that would have been!) which were available on the Haydn Society and CBS LPs and now reissued in splendid sound from Haydn House (11CDs).

In a perfect world one would have all of these recordings, and more, but if your pocket doesn’t run to that expense you won’t be disappointed with this set. Happy listening.

Bob Briggs, MusicWeb International