HAYDN Symphonies Nos 52, 53 & 59
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Joseph Haydn
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Signum
Magazine Review Date: 11/2015
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: SIGCD434
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 52 |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Joseph Haydn, Composer Rebecca Miller, Conductor Royal Northern Sinfonia |
Symphony No. 53, 'Imperial' |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Joseph Haydn, Composer Rebecca Miller, Conductor Royal Northern Sinfonia |
Symphony No. 59, 'Fire' |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Joseph Haydn, Composer Rebecca Miller, Conductor Royal Northern Sinfonia |
Author: David Threasher
These are endlessly fascinating symphonies, symptoms of Haydn’s isolation at Eszterháza – the grand palace that Prince Nicolaus ‘The Magnificent’ built on a Hungarian swamp – and his furious innovation in orchestral and compositional technique. The Fire Symphony (late 1760s) crackles away with tremolando strings and hysterical horns, while the C minor work, No 52 (early 1770s), majors on the stark, Gluckian language Haydn was injecting into his symphonic writing at that time, complete with neo-Baroque falling diminished seventh figures and sudden extremes of dynamics. Miller fields a well-drilled string band of 24 players and allows her horn players off the leash to provide all the effects Haydn dreamt up for them – especially in the glorious high registers of the Fire Symphony.
No 53 comes from towards the end of the 1770s, when Haydn was cultivating a more consciously ‘entertaining’ style, and it is this work that is most successful on this disc. Flute and timpani add to a larger palette of sounds and the grandeur of the work seems to suit Miller’s imaginative approach, with some especially effective phrasing. As a bonus, a second version of the finale (in fact the boisterous Overture, HobIa/7, also later adapted for Symphony No 62) provides a contrast with the more demure first version.
These admirable performances make a worthwhile addition to the catalogue of the often-neglected middle-period symphonies. Just for comparison, I turned to favourite recordings by Harnoncourt in Nos 53 and 59. There the Vienna Concentus Musicus throw themselves at this music with just a touch more abandon and Harnoncourt revels in Haydn’s effects just a touch more gleefully – even if he only offers the one finale for L’Impériale. Miller for some reason includes a harpsichord in No 59 but not in the others.
Explore the world’s largest classical music catalogue on Apple Music Classical.
Included with an Apple Music subscription. Download now.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £9.20 / month
SubscribeGramophone Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £11.45 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.