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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. I. Adagio - Allegro | |||
| 2. II. Largo | |||
| 3. III. Menuetto (Allegretto) & Trio | |||
| 4. IV. Finale (Allegro con spirito) | |||
| 5. I - Vivace | |||
| 6. II - Andante con moto | |||
| 7. III - Menuet | |||
| 8. IV - Vivace assai | |||
| 9. I. Adagio - Allegro assai | |||
| 10. II. Andante | |||
See all 13 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Largo - Allegro assai | |||
| 2. Andante | |||
| 3. Menuet | |||
| 4. Vivace | |||
| 5. Adagio_Allegro spiritoso | |||
| 6. Adagio | |||
| 7. Menuet | |||
| 8. Presto | |||
| 9. Allegro | |||
| 10. Andante | |||
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See all 11 tracks on this disc
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Rattle and the Berliners give a superb, full-blooded performance of these lively symphonies and the recording quality is excellent. What a pity the set had to be marred by the inclusion of "alternative finales" for No. 90 - so you have to hear an audience being fooled by the false endings before you are allowed to enjoy the movement straight through, uninterrupted.
The gimmick is irritating on first hearing and can only become more so on subsequent plays. Yes, you can programme your system to leave out the nonsense, but who wants to have to programme tracks every time they play a CD?
The gimmick is irritating on first hearing and can only become more so on subsequent plays. Yes, you can programme your system to leave out the nonsense, but who wants to have to programme tracks every time they play a CD?
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Occasionally, I'd catch sight of Simon Rattle in Birmingham's Botanical Gardens of a Sunday Morning. (It's probably the Zoologischer Garten for him nowadays). I always felt an urge to ask him about his previous recording of Haydn's Symphony 90 (1990, CBSO, EMI), in which an otherwise impeccable performance was 'spoilt' by the opening chord, lazily staggered. It couldn't possibly have been written like this, could it? I've since learnt that indeed it was.
Perfectly good versions of these symphonies exist elsewhere, of course. Those by La Petite Bande under Sigiswald Kuijken, for example. (Likewise Rattle's previous Symphony 90, coupled with 60 and 70.) But you always expect something different, and something enhancing, from Rattle. Truth be told, there is little revolutionary about these live recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic. CD1 offers a 'bonus' track by way of alternative finales for Symphony 90 - one with audience reaction (premature applause followed by laughter at the recognition of their mistake) and for those for whom the 'joke' has worn thin, another ending played without interruption.
But even though Rattle does nothing absolutely radical, his attention to detail is meticulous. The occasional grace note here - sparing but telling - an unexpected drum-roll there. With spirited, invigorating playing, he manages to make the most of what can sound a little routine. It is the last movement of No 90, so anti-climactic in other versions, that finally 'makes sense'. Here, with its brisk tempo and utter conviction, it's probably the most engaging track of all.
Rattle is probably at his most inspired with Nos. 88 and 89, two of the least-performed late symphonies, sitting in relative obscurity between the great Paris and London cycles. The Minuet of 88 is sprightly and appealing - not at all as pedestrian as it can be. Its curious Trio section, with imitation bagpipes, is enlivened by the hurrying of some entries, creating interesting rhythmic tension in the process - Rattle's modernist influence showing through, perhaps.
Rattle is on record as saying that he considers Haydn 'our greatest neglected composer'. Despite his reputation for bringing contemporary music to the forefront, Rattle has always been a keen advocate of Haydn and this double CD suggests a real affinity with him. For my money, Rattle is the leading interpreter of Haydn's later symphonies along with Frans Bruggen.
Perfectly good versions of these symphonies exist elsewhere, of course. Those by La Petite Bande under Sigiswald Kuijken, for example. (Likewise Rattle's previous Symphony 90, coupled with 60 and 70.) But you always expect something different, and something enhancing, from Rattle. Truth be told, there is little revolutionary about these live recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic. CD1 offers a 'bonus' track by way of alternative finales for Symphony 90 - one with audience reaction (premature applause followed by laughter at the recognition of their mistake) and for those for whom the 'joke' has worn thin, another ending played without interruption.
But even though Rattle does nothing absolutely radical, his attention to detail is meticulous. The occasional grace note here - sparing but telling - an unexpected drum-roll there. With spirited, invigorating playing, he manages to make the most of what can sound a little routine. It is the last movement of No 90, so anti-climactic in other versions, that finally 'makes sense'. Here, with its brisk tempo and utter conviction, it's probably the most engaging track of all.
Rattle is probably at his most inspired with Nos. 88 and 89, two of the least-performed late symphonies, sitting in relative obscurity between the great Paris and London cycles. The Minuet of 88 is sprightly and appealing - not at all as pedestrian as it can be. Its curious Trio section, with imitation bagpipes, is enlivened by the hurrying of some entries, creating interesting rhythmic tension in the process - Rattle's modernist influence showing through, perhaps.
Rattle is on record as saying that he considers Haydn 'our greatest neglected composer'. Despite his reputation for bringing contemporary music to the forefront, Rattle has always been a keen advocate of Haydn and this double CD suggests a real affinity with him. For my money, Rattle is the leading interpreter of Haydn's later symphonies along with Frans Bruggen.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
And I stood on the shore of the Sea, and behold, a Beast emerged from its waters, crowned with curly hair and a smirk on its face. And . . . and . . . I woke up at that point and worked on this review.
If Sir Simon's intention at the outset was to miniaturise Haydn - one of the great symphonists - then he has succeeded admirably, assisted no end by a Berlin Philharmoniker that appears to be sponsored by Weight Watchers. Others, such as Uncle Karl (Haydn: Symphony No 88; no.89, No 92) and even Karajan in his early 1980s cycles demonstrated that power and clarity can be jolly bedfellows in Haydn. And how fussy Rattle is: does he really have to make an expressive point with every bar? The slow movement of 89, for instance, is narcissistic in the extreme. Bohm allows the music to speak for itself.
Magic is also in short supply - witness, for example, the slow introduction to the Oxford. As the epitaph of the Ancien Regime, it should blaze with the luminescence of sunset. As rendered by Sir Simon it is exceedingly well played, superlatively recorded and as dull as dishwater. Could it be time for another tofu burger with a sprinkle of alfalfa . . . . . ..
Oh, the sadness of it all. As much as I want to 'convert' my kids to classical music, I am embarrassed to play these performances to them in the car. One can only pray that Sir Simon is not afforded an opportunity to maul the London Symphonies. And I daresay that Mozart is on the menu . . . . .
If Sir Simon's intention at the outset was to miniaturise Haydn - one of the great symphonists - then he has succeeded admirably, assisted no end by a Berlin Philharmoniker that appears to be sponsored by Weight Watchers. Others, such as Uncle Karl (Haydn: Symphony No 88; no.89, No 92) and even Karajan in his early 1980s cycles demonstrated that power and clarity can be jolly bedfellows in Haydn. And how fussy Rattle is: does he really have to make an expressive point with every bar? The slow movement of 89, for instance, is narcissistic in the extreme. Bohm allows the music to speak for itself.
Magic is also in short supply - witness, for example, the slow introduction to the Oxford. As the epitaph of the Ancien Regime, it should blaze with the luminescence of sunset. As rendered by Sir Simon it is exceedingly well played, superlatively recorded and as dull as dishwater. Could it be time for another tofu burger with a sprinkle of alfalfa . . . . . ..
Oh, the sadness of it all. As much as I want to 'convert' my kids to classical music, I am embarrassed to play these performances to them in the car. One can only pray that Sir Simon is not afforded an opportunity to maul the London Symphonies. And I daresay that Mozart is on the menu . . . . .
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