Haydn

Symphony No 101, 'Clock' - Symphony No 103, 'Drumroll'

Symphony No 96, 'Miracle' - Symphony No 102

Sinfonia Concertante,HobI/105 - Symphony No 94, 'Surprise' - Symphony No 100, 'Military'
Gerard Tyretschek ob Michael Werba bn Rainer Küchl vn Wolfgang Herzer vc

Symphony No 22, 'Philosopher' - Symphony No 24 - Symphony No 45, 'Farewell'

Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra/Adám Fischer

Nimbus

Reviewed: Gramophone (12/1989)

It has taken a surprisingly long time for the first complete set of the 12 ""London"" Symphonies to appear on CD. This one, recorded in the Haydnsaal of the Esterhazy Palace in Hungary, where so many of Haydn's symphonies were first heard (though not these), brings warm and stylish readings, in ripely reverberant Nimbus sound. Neatly packaged on five discs—with the first two containing three symphonies apiece, two each on the rest—the set can be firmly recommended to anyone not wedded to period performance.
With Professor H. C. Robbins Landon giving weight to the project—he writes a characteristically lively ""historical perspective"" for the booklet—and with such concern for the venue one might have expected a recording on period instruments, but not so. Adam Fischer and his choice band of players, the aptly if clumsily named Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, do not really represent the half-way stage I expected between period performance and modern 'symphonic' treatment. Not only are modern instruments used, Fischer as a Haydn interpreter prefers a more legato style and speeds generally less brisk than are favoured even by those merely influenced by the authenticists. In his approach he is not so distant from Jeffrey Tate in his EMI recordings with the ECO of the last six symphonies, but as a rule adopts even slower speeds and an even more expressive manner in slow movements.
One of my principal comparisons has been with the Ovation CD of three of these symphonies that Decca has extracted from Dorati's monumental complete edition of the whole cycle (coupling Nos. 94, 96 and 100). Rather to my surprise Dorati, recording well before the period-performance movement took off, shows more concern for its lessons in tempo and string articulation.
The recording, characteristic of Nimbus, tends to bring quite a sharp division between lightly-scored passages and loud tuttis. Where in the lightly-scored passages the modest size of the string band is clearly established, the rapid passage-work in tuttis is no more cleanly defined than in such recognizably 'symphonic' readings as those of Bernstein and Karajan, both of whom use modest complements of strings and with shrewd microphone placing manage to achieve surprisingly clear articulation in the tuttis.
As recent correspondence in Gramophone has suggested (August, page 275, October, page 604 and this issue, page 1059), the reverberant Nimbus acoustic will worry some collectors far more than others. For myself this is so sweet and atmospheric a sound, taking you at once into a historic venue, that I readily accept the lack of sharp definition in heavy textures. Though the recordings were made over a relatively long period between June 1987 and June this year, the sound is fairly consistent. The only marked difference comes in the separate versions of the early symphonies, Nos. 22 and 24, recorded last April, where the horns are both more forwardly balanced and more sharply defined, giving a more open impression in tuttis; partly a question of lighter scoring.
For most listeners I imagine, like myself, the performances will fall very easily on the ear, when the playing is so fresh, resilient and refined within its chosen style of performance. Fischer may favour broad rather than brisk speeds, but that means that the joy of Haydn's inspiration comes out all the more readily. Fischer never makes the music sound breathless yet is never stodgy either. The Allegro of Symphony No. 93 gets the cycle off to a delectable start, with its three-in-a-bar dance rhythms lightly sprung. The Largo cantabile, taken dangerously slowly, is yet so pointedly done that it hardly drags, though it is rather marred by the oboe's sour tone in his solos. Exceptionally, too, Fischer underlines his agogic hesitations rather heavily in the following Minuet. Generally his treatment of dance rhythms—in minuets and elsewhere is elegant rather than heavy.
In the slow movement of the Clock one tiny textual point surprises me. As I noted when I reviewed the Tate version, Robbins Landon's edition of the score (Universal-Philharmonia) departs from the traditional reading in the first phrase by putting a staccato mark on the high B. Tate observes that, where Fischer reverts to the traditional sustained B; on what authority I cannot say. Used as I am to the traditional view, I rather prefer it, however unauthentic.
In the Adagio slow movement of No. 102, one of the loveliest that Haydn ever wrote—aptly dedicated in the score ""In Nomine Domini""—Fischer's broad speed is most sympathetic, but the solo cello, which makes a major contribution to the movement in triplet passagework is balanced distractingly close. That solo should never be louder than the tutti violins.
The separate issues listed above of six of the symphonies can of course be recommended with equal enthusiasm, though note that the pairings are quite different from those in the set, and the coupling of the Surprise and Military includes a splendid bonus in the Sinfonia Concertante. That shares two of its four soloists with Leonard Bernstein's Vienna Philharmonic/DG version, but presents them with less spotlighting and they are better integrated with the ensemble, even if passagework is no clearer. In the outer movements Fischer is just as lively as Bernstein but rather easier in manner and more elegant.
The other record, of earlier symphonies, is most attractive, too. The point I made above about horn balance establishes itself at once in the exhilarating account of the first movement of No. 24—first on the disc—and the flute solo in the slow movement which follows is warmly expressive, creating a Gluckian atmosphere of Elysian fields. The warm acoustic of the Haydnsaal then takes away some of the abrasiveness from the sound of the cor anglais in the opening Adagio of No. 22, Philosopher, but as in many slow movements Fischer springs rhythms well. That leads to brisk and light accounts of the two Presto movements, with phenomenal articulation from the horn in particular.
In the Farewell Symphony the fast movements bristle with energy, and one welcomes Fischer's decision in the first to observe the second-half repeat, giving this Sturm und Drang style Allegro assai in F sharp minor a length to match the slow movement, taken espressivo at a very measured Adagio, less detached than in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's DG version. The closing Adagio is charmingly done with no distracting gimmicks, as the players stop one by one in their historic hint to Pnnce Esterhazy.
Whatever details may be controversial in all these readings, what will matter to most Haydn lovers is the point and stylishness, the sweetly atmospheric sound and, above all, the sense of joy.