Customer Reviews

Haydn: The Complete Concertos

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Poor Papa Haydn!Always in the shadow of W.A.M. He is at last getting the recognition he deserves.This is a splendid treasure trove, full of memorable music, very well played and with exceptionally fine sound - totally natural and very well balanced.The famous Trumpet Concerto is very good as is the Double Concerto.The artist are not "A" list players but you would never know! At the Naxos price this box is probably destined to be the find of the Haydn Anniversary.

For most music lovers, Haydn's concertos do not occupy a particularly high place in his large output. Most of the concertos are early works written for specific occasions rather than for broad, repeated performances. These early concertos generally lack the virtuosity and brilliance found in the concerto form. They tend to lack drama. With that said, there is no need to be discouraged from exploring this six-CD collection of Haydn's complete concertos available on the budget-priced Naxos label. Helmut Muller-Bruhl conducts the Cologne Chamber Orchestra on modern instruments together with a variety of soloists in these recordings. Most of his readings of the concertos are in a period-informed style. The set of concertos is part of a lengthy series of Haydn's complete works in several genres, including symphonies (many of which are performed by Muller-Bruhl and his orchestra), string quartets, piano sonatas, oratorios, and masses, that Naxos has released in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death (1732 - 1809). I have been listening to many recordings of Haydn's music this year, including these concertos, as part of my personal celebration of Haydn. His music is indeed inexhaustible.

Haydn's music is always delightful and accessible, even when he is not at his best. This set offers the opportunity to explore both familiar and unfamiliar music and to hear how Haydn developed as a composer. The concertos begin with some of Haydn's earliest compositions from the 1750s, and, they conclude with a work of Haydn's greatest maturity following his two visits to London. In addition, these concertos include a small number of masterworks, including the trumpet concerto, two concertos for cello, and the D major piano concerto. There are also some fine, lesser-known works that may surprise. Finally, in addition to the able performance of Muller-Bruhl, this set features a number of outstanding soloists. It offers full CDs of cellist Maria Kliegel, known as "La Cellisima" to her many admirers, and of two rising performers, violinist Augustin Hadelich and pianist Sebastian Knauer.

Because each of the six CDs in this set are also available individually, I have been pleased to have the opportunity to review each disk in more detail than is available here. Thus, in what follows I will offer brief comments on each CD and refer the interested reader by link to the individual CD for additional comments.

The set includes two CDs of Haydn keyboard concertos. The first CD Haydn: Keyboard Concertos includes five early works that Haydn composed in the 1750s as a freelance composer before he secured positions with Count Morzin and then with Count Esterhazy. They are performed here on the organ and harpsichord. One of these works is an early C major concerto that was of great personal importance to Haydn. It was performed when a young woman, Theresa Keller, whom Haydn had hoped to marry, took vows and was accepted into a convent as a nun. The music, however, is festive and ceremonial. The second CD of Haydn keyboard concertos features Sebastian Knauer, a young German pianist. Haydn: Piano Concertos Nos. 3, 4, 9 & 11 This CD includes three works Haydn wrote for the Esterhazy's. But its major attraction is a sparkling performance of Haydn's D major concerto, Haydn's one masterpiece in the piano concerto form, which dates from 1783.

A further CD in the collection includes an additional early Haydn keyboard concerto, together with an early concertos for keyboard and violin, and an early and good horn concerto. Haydn - Concertos But the major attraction of this CD is Haydn's trumpet concerto, frequently regarded as his masterpiece in the form. This is a late work dating from 1795 after Haydn had returned to Vienna from London and completed the composition of his 104 symphonies. It is well-performed by Jurgen Schuster.

Maria Kliegel gives passionate, romantically charged readings of Haydn's two authentic cello concertos, the large-scale, symphonic D major concerto of 1784 and an early concerto dating from the early 1760s. Haydn: Cello Concertos For me, these works are the high point of Haydn's concerto compositions. Kliegel also performs an early concerto in D major attributed to Haydn which has become a rarity on CD. Her performance is in a full-bodied style which may not appeal to those listeners seeking a period rendition. But I found it moving.

The young violinist Augustin Hadelich gives a fully idiomatic, radiant, and virtuosic performance of Haydn's two early violin concertos in C and A written in the 1760s for Luigi Tomasini, the concertmaster at Esterhazy. He also performs the G major concerto which is a lesser work. Haydn: Violin Concertos This is a rare CD in which the performer rather than the score takes center stage. Hadelich should have an extraordinary career ahead of him.

Finally, the sleeper in this set consists of a CD of five concertos for lira organizzate that Haydn composed in 1785-1786 under commission from the King Ferdinand IV of Naples. Haydn - Concertos For Two Lire Organizzate The lira organizzate was a peculiar instrument similar to a hurdy-gurdy that was performed by turning a crank. Haydn later transposed these works to be played by two wind instruments. They are performed here by two flutes, flute and oboe, and two recorders. These concertos are delightful and worthy of their composer. Listeners familiar with Haydn will recognize many themes in these works that he subsequently incorporated into his symphonies. These works are rarities that will reward attention.

In sum, this is a fine set for those listeners who want to expand their knowledge of Haydn.

Robin Friedman

Like other reviewers, my view on Haydn is as a great composer of symphonies and string quartets, rather than as a composer of concertos. His trumpet concerto can be argued to be the greatest concerto ever written, but the rest - or so I believed - consisted of a couple of cello concertos (the CD set actually contains three), and about a CD's worth of OK violin concertos and another of OK piano concertos, all listenable rather than anything special. In much the same way as Mozart's concertos are the works of genius while most of his syphonies are no more than good, that observation seems to apply to Haydn in reverse.

Well, I am not going to argue that this CD set reverses that jusgement. Apart from the trumpet concerto, no work in the set remotely challenges Mozart's great concertos for brilliance. But I got quite enormous pleasure from this collection and have no hesitation in giving the set the maximum 5 stars. The works are all given good clean performances, and the booklet (actually a complete discussion of Haydn's symphonies, piano sonatas, and string quartets as well as his concertos)is as good as any CD accompaniment I have seen.

The works that were new to me, e.g. some for woodwind and non-piano keyboard, were all refreshingly played. As were the violin and piano concertos that I had heard before. The whole experience was one long source of musical pleasure. The set is hardly expensive, and beautifully presented as well as beautifully played, and I heartily recommend the set.