… Listening to Haydn’s 52 surviving piano sonatas one apprehends his slow and steady development as a composer…
… Even their authenticity is open to speculation without a sure means of stylistic comparison with compositions definitely written during the period…
… The sound of these discs is uniformly excellent with the Naxos engineers providing a rich, full tone to the piano. They avoid the dryness and close-miking that often accompanies piano recordings…
JOSEPH HAYDN - Sämtliche Sinfonien (Vol. 34) - CD des Monats OKTOBER 2008
JOSEPH HAYDN
(1732-1809) Sämtliche Sinfonien Vol. 34 Sinfonien Nr. 62 D-Dur
Nr. 107 B-Dur .
Nr. 108 B-Dur
Ouvertüre zu La vera costanza (List & Liebe).
Ouvertüre zu Lo speziale (Der Apotheker)
Toronto Chamber Orchestra
Dirigent: Kevin Mallon
(Letzte Folge der Gesamteinspielung)
Naxos ▪ 8.572130 ▪ 1 CD ▪ DDD
Die letzte Ausgabe der NAXOS-Serie mit den kompletten Sinfonien von Joseph Haydn
enthält die relativ unbekannte Sinfonie Nr. 62, die von ausgesprochener Schönheit und Dramatik ist und in Haydns mittleren Schaffensphase entstand.
Haydn schrieb dieses Werk im Jahre 1780 auf Schloss Eszterházy, für dessen Hausherrn er mehr als 30 Jahre lang arbeitete und eine Fülle von Werken komponierte. Zu dieser Zeit entstanden auch zahlreiche Bühnenmusiken, die Haydn ebenfalls für seine Sinfonien adaptierte.
Die Sinfonien Nr. 107 und Nr. 108 sind nicht – wie es die Werkezählung vermuten lässt, frühe Werke Haydns, sondern sie entstanden tatsächlich schon in den 1750er Jahren, zu einer Zeit als Haydn noch nicht als Hofkomponist im Dienste des Fürsten Eszterházy stand.
Beide Sinfonien sind für zwei Oboen und zwei Hörner, Streicher und Cembalo-Continuo komponiert.
Phoenix Edition is dedicated to the rediscovery of works by almost-forgotten composers as well as high-quality recordings of pieces written by well-known composers. Below you will find the Phoenix Edition titles that are available on July 29.
This set of 2 CDs contains recordings of music conducted by Gary Bertini when he was chief conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne of the West-German Radio Corporation Cologne (WDR). He cast first class soloists for the music he chose, namely Mozart’s two most important spiritual vocal works. In the Mass in c Minor, the first soprano part is full of virtuoso technical difficulties-especially in the famous “Et incarnatus est” passage-legendary soprano Arleen Augér interprets it in a fabulously exemplary manner. The bass voice in the Requiem is no other than young Thomas Quasthoff, whose voice already possessed the sonorous, unique timbre that so quickly secured him a place among the world’s best singers. Other famous singers perform the other solo parts, among them Doris Soffel, Thomas Moser, Robert Swensen and Krisztina Laki; and thus we encounter some truly exemplary recordings conducted by the experienced Gary Bertini.
An archive of inestimable value: Generally, the year 1498, during the reign of Maximilian I, is considered to be the founding year of the Wiener Hofkapelle, even though we know today that its roots stretch back deep into the 13th century, as “Hofkapelle der Habsburger.” A multitude of composers left their musical imprints behind in the form of commissioned works for ecclesiastical celebrations, coronation ceremonies, lyrical dramas, operas or simple and courtly light music. In the epoch of Viennese Classical music it was no less than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri who assisted the Wiener Hofkapelle to their eminence.
For this, the first redressment has been made: then, in addition to famous names such as Franz Schubert or Michael Haydn, it is the today unfairly forgotten “minor masters” like Joseph Leopold von Eybler, Johann von Herbeck or Benedict Randhartinger who, with their impressive and richly orchestrated sacral works, provide for surprises. An impressive programme in the capable hands of Helmuth Froschauer, himself conductor of the Wiener Hofkapelle and thus an expert for this repertoire.
Franz Vinzenz Krommer, born in Trebice in 1759, three years after Mozart, and deceased in Vienna in 1831, three years after Beethoven, he is something like the prototype of the classical composer. With unborrowed ideas, wit and fire he is, in his early works, closest to Haydn and Mozart, jokingly winking like Joseph Haydn, as lazily elegant as was composed only in Vienna. In his later years he approached the musical language of Beethoven and, on occasion, his stylistic devices extend into the world of expression associated with romanticism. The string trio also belongs to the later profound works, with which he invoked in part the dramatics of Beethoven, in part the yearning of Schubert.
Phoenix can offer yet another first class ensemble from the realm of Baroque and Early Music: the L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra under Michi Gaigg. The orchestra is one of the leading ensembles for historically informed performance practice and has been awarded international prizes for its recordings such as Diapason, Pizzicato (Supersonic Award), Choc du Monde de la Musique and Radio Österreich 1 (Pasticcio-Prize).
Jean-Féry Rebel’s dance symphony Les élémens from 1737/38 is about chaos. All the notes in the opening key are in a “cluster” of dissonance. The bass represents the earth; the run of flutes, the course of water; the air is painted with restrained notes, followed by cadences of small flutes, and fire with the help of the dexterous runs of the violins. The suite describes the state of nature before man’s arrival as seen very much through the eyes of the French late Baroque.
Joseph Haydn named him as “one of the greatest geniuses that I have known.” The Mozart contemporary Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) has for a long time now no longer been regarded as a “lesser master.” This is above all to be ascribed to the unremitting commitment of Werner Ehrhardt, who for many years has assertively promoted the music. On this new SACD a “summit meeting” takes place with Simone Kermes, the young and exceptional soprano.
Together with the ensemble L’arte Del Mondo the pair have dug out the four cantatas La Scusa (1777) VB 43, La Pesca (1779) VB 44, LaGelosia (1780) VB 46 and La Primavera (1790) VB 47.
The only piano concertos written in the Classical era that can withstand comparison to Mozart’s luminous creations are the four recorded on this Naxos CD…
… It is a joyful, spirited work whose Baroque roots are easily detected, as is the case with the Concerto No. 4 in G Major…
Helmut Muller-Bruhl conducts the superb Cologne Chamber Orchestra, who play this music in an historically informed style but on modern instruments. They are always graceful and invigorating, providing a delightful accompaniment, heightening our pleasure in these shining examples…
Guitarist Friedemann Wuttke has performed compositions from all periods of music in his concerts and recordings; from the earliest guitar arrangements through Classical and modern contemporary works. Wuttke’s newest album 20th Century Guitar, features some of the most beloved guitar composers of our time including Ulrich Wedlich, Leo Brouwer, and Carlo Domeniconi.
Stuttgart guitarist and composer Ulrich Wedlich’s Sonata für Gitarre conjures a meditative state in the listener. Its music appears to hover in the gray area between a popular and serious guitar work. Cuban-born and self-taught composer Leo Brouwer is perhaps the most important representative of 20th Century Guitar music on the recording. His Concerto Elegiaco for Guitar and Orchestra gives the impression of a large, lush, Romantic era orchestra. In reality, the piece is scored for strings and 2 percussionists; one playing kettle drums, the other playing a drum, tom tom, marimba, and glockenspiel. Domeniconi’s Koyunbaba for Guitar (named for a saint-like hermit who lived in the South of Turkey) uses solely the guitar to create a magical sea adventure for the listener with sounds that fashion a world that seems to extend beyond human horizons.
Since 1992, Friedemann Wuttke has exclusively pursued his concert and recording career. He appears regularly at international music events and festivals and participates in numerous radio and television recordings. Wuttke has traveled the world as a concert guitarist and has performed with many important ensembles and orchestras.
Cello Fiesta! Kremerata Baltica, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Giorgi Kharadze
Compositions by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Vaja Azarashvili, Ginastera, and Chick Corea
“Recommended” By Gidon Kremer
Cello Fiesta! is a unique recording by the orchestra-in-residence of the Kronberg Academy, Kremerata Baltica, and two Kronberg Academy Cello Masters: Marie-Elisabeth Hecker and Giorgi Kharadze. Hecker (Winner of the 2005 International Rostropovich Cello Competition) and Kharadze (Winner of the International Pablo Caslas Cello Competition) perform repertoire from three centuries while incorporating a range of musical colors and historical styles. Gidon Kremer, founder of the Kremerata Baltica, has compared Hecker and Kharadze to the likes of the great cellist Pablo Casals and has also said that they are “musicians who will secure the future of the new generation of cellists”.
The recording opens with Haydn’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C major, followed by the inspired Pezzo Capriccioso in B minor, which was composed by Tchaikovsky in less than one week. These pieces pave the way for a variety of pieces from the 20th century, including the single movement Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by the revered Georgian composer Vaja Azarashvili. Written for his good friend Pablo Casals, Argentinian Ginastera’s Glosses sobre temes de Pau Casals (Op 46) is colorful and provocative. Chick Corea’s La Fiesta, arranged for 2 celli, strings and percussion, appropriately serves as the finale of the recording.
Naxos releases acclaimed violinist Augustin Hadelich’s debut recording for the label, which features Haydn’s Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 3, and 4 with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Helmut Müller-Brühl. Other upcoming Naxos recordings with Mr. Hadelich will include a disc of Telemann Fantasies for solo violin.
Of the nine violin concertos at one time ascribed to Haydn, only four were genuine, and one of the four is lost. With their use of the instrument’s higher register, chains of dotted notes, double stopping and ornamental figuration, the Concerti were written to showcase the considerable virtuosity of the principal violin in Haydn’s orchestra, Luigi Tomasini.
Lauded as a “brilliant” violinist by The New York Times, German violinist Augustin Hadelich (2006 Gold Medalist at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis) has established himself as an eloquent and unique voice among the new generation of violinists. As testament to his astonishing versatility across all periods of the repertoire, Mr. Hadelich received the IVCI’s special awards for best performance of a Romantic concerto, Classical concerto, Beethoven sonata, violin sonata other than Beethoven, Bach work, commissioned work, encore piece, and Paganini caprice. Born in Italy in 1984, the son of German parents, Augustin Hadelich holds a diploma (summa cum laude) from the Instituto Mascagni in Livorno, Italy, as well as a graduate diploma and the coveted Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff. He has attended the Marlboro and Ravinia festivals and numerous master classes with renowned violinists, including Uto Ughi, Christoph Poppen, Norbert Brainin, Pinchas Zukerman, Zachar Bron, Yehudi Menuhin, and Miriam Fried. As first-prize winner of the Indianapolis competition, Mr. Hadelich plays the 1683 “ex-Gingold” Stradivari violin and Tourte bow.
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