Haydn: Pleasing Pain, Hob. XXVIa:29

It is well known that Haydn was a favoured visitor to London towards the end of his life and spent much time in the English capital. In addition to the famous ‘London’ symphonies he wrote a considerable amount of other music whilst he was here, including chamber works and, particularly, songs, many of them to English words by his friend Anne Hunter. All of the famous ones are here, along with other, German, settings and the extended scena ‘Arianna a Naxos’, to an anonymous Italian text.

Haydn’s songs are relatively subordinate in his oeuvre and were composed to be performed by amateurs. Nonetheless, they are carefully structured and served to help establish him in the open market. His English Canzonettas show a great variety of moods ranging from lively sea pieces to pastoral. Anne Cambrier has an extensive repertoire and regularly gives recitals with Jan Vermeulen.

“This disc was originally the idea of the Ambronay team: our strong respective temperaments, our affinities for Baroque music were among the many arguments they put forward with infectious enthusiasm to encourage Aline Zylberajch and myself to embark on a duo recording project for Ambronay Éditions. We then met to read through some of the pieces. Little by little, a guiding thread evoking Schumann’s famous song cycle Frauenliebe und leben (A woman’s love and life) prompted us to choose from among Haydn’s finest works a programme of lieder and canzonettas illustrating the universal theme of the cycle of love: from the girl dreaming of love to her first experience of it, from the beloved woman to her abandoned sister… Haydn’s musical style, the psychological evolution of the protagonists of his songs, and the palette of colours, emotions, and expressions this stimulates, brought us rich emotions and joys during our work on the recording. For my part, I also had the good fortune to discover a delightful personality behind a remarkable musician in the person of Aline. In conclusion, ‘Das Leben ist ein Traum’ thanks to music!” Stéphanie d’Oustrac

Respected and in demand soprano Ruth Ziesak gives an outstanding performance. This new CD includes all Haydn’s songs with lyrics in English.

In the ‘Haydn Year’ PentaTone is pleased to release the complete Haydn songs first released on a Philips three LP set and now available on 2 CD’s at a special price.

Haydn’s lieder is sadly often relegated to the opening ‘warm-up’ sections of recitals, or, even worse, totally neglected. This is a pity, for as collectors of Brilliant Classics cycle of all his Scottish Songs will know, there is much wit, warm humour and not a little drama to found in these gems. The songs on this CD span 1781 –95, and the first two sets were written for the Viennese socialite Franz Sales von Greiner, who regularly advised Haydn on the choice of texts.

The third set is probably the best known works in this programme. The ‘English Canzonettas’ were written for Haydn’s friend Lady Anne Hunter, the widow of eminent surgeon Sir John Hunter. Anne provided the texts for the first group, and one for the second. Haydn turned to Metastasio for the remainder.

The ‘Pastoral Song’ became a firm favourite with the Victorians, and was a parlour song ‘hit’.

These Philips recording have long been unavailable: here they make a welcome return to the catalogue

‘Those who love them [Haydn’s songs], and love Elly Ameling, will not be disappointed in this generous recital…Ameling’s skill lies in her precise judgement of their scale…Jorg Demus’s accompanying is half the fun: he makes the keys speak as clearly and sweetly as any fortepiano…’ Gramophone

Full sung texts and booklet notes

A must for lovers of this popular and much-loved singer

This excellent release is a unique collection of English love songs by some of the great English composers of the 20th century including Vaughan-Williams, Purcell, Britten, Dowland, Finzi and Warlock. All of the songs are firm favourites; amongst the most well known are Silent worship, Where’er you walk, If music be the food of love and The salley gardens. Mark Stone has sung at Covent Garden most recently in “Don Giovanni” and is a regular guest at ENO, WNO, Glyndebourne and Opera North. He and Stephen Barlow regularly perform together as a recital duo and often appear on Radio 3 and in concert in the UK and abroad.