Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 93 - 104 (the London Symphonies)

An exceptional and eagerly-awaited live recording of Haydn’s 12 ‘London Symphonies’ performed during a series of highly-acclaimed concerts in Vienna by Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble.

The ‘London Symphonies’ on this four-CD set were recorded at performances given at the Wiener Konzerthaus in June, 2009. They caused great enthusiasm among audiences and critics alike: “an orchestra playing at its very best – the performances of Haydn were exemplary. Exhilarating!” (Wiener Zeitung, June 2009). These concerts by Marc Minkowski and his orchestra in Vienna were praised by the international press: “the performance was a real success, warmly acclaimed by the audience.” (Kronenzeitung, June 2009). The recording has just been awarded a ‘Diapason d’Or’ by the French Magazine ‘Diapason’.

Marc Minkowski’s Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, which he founded in1982, is one of the most versatile, inventive and original ensembles currently active. The orchestra is particularly familiar with Haydn’s work, having partly established its reputation with critically acclaimed interpretations of this repertoire. Minkowski’s recording of the ‘London Symphonies’ is a significant contribution to the conductor’s project to reinterpret symphonies and operas from the Baroque era right through to modern music.

In 2009, the music world around the globe will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn. On Hyperion, Howard Shelley and his stylish continental orchestra present the symphonies that made Haydn the most famous and popular composer alive in the 1790s. These are Haydn’s most glittering, worldly symphonies, and listening to them as a set one can sense the exhiliarating milieu in which they were written. This boxed set, featuring high class performances, recordings and booklet notes at a budget price, is the perfect way to experience the joy and splendour of these works.

Norrington’s excursions into the Classical and Romantic and Symphonic repertoire have been well documented and now he and his Stuttgart colleagues turn their attention to Haydn. Haydn’s last twelve symphonies rank among the greatest achievements of western music and continue to inspire.

Joseph Haydn, often referred to as ‘The Father of the Symphony’, has an enormous 109 of these works to his name. Within his vast oeuvre of symphonies is a group of 12, written between 1781 and 1795, which are known as the ‘London’ symphonies, composed during or for his two visits to the English capital. Brimming with inspiration and character, the ‘London’ symphonies contain many of the legendary moments of Haydn’s works, including the drumroll opening of No.103, the ticking of the clock in the Andante of No.101, the jubilant sound of the triangle in the finale of the ‘Military’, and that arresting interjection of the timpani in the ‘Surprise’.

This collection brings together these wonderful works, each of which contributed to Haydn’s crafting of the symphonic form that would later be taken up by none other than his pupil and friend, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra was formed by Adam Fischer in 1987 with the express purpose of performing the works of the revered composer. The Orchestra is rather appropriately based in the Esterházy Palace - where Haydn was resident for much of his life - and has toured extensively throughout Europe, the USA and Asia, performing in events such as the Mozart Festival (New York) and the BBC Proms (London).