# What are your favorite period instrument Haydn and Mozart symphony recordings .....



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

As above .
Thank you :tiphat:


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

I really like Frans Brüggen's recordings of Haydn's Paris symphonies. And I like Kuijken's recordings of the "Oxford" symphonies, 88-92, with La Petite Bande. As for Mozart, I haven't heard a single period instruments recording that I like, so I can't comment there.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've been thinking about picking up a complete Haydn symphony set but I'm not sure what to get? I don't think there are many in print. Sometimes the period instruments can sound a bit weedy. I'll have to do more listening before I decide on something.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

starthrower said:


> I've been thinking about picking up a complete Haydn symphony set but I'm not sure what to get? I don't think there are many in print. Sometimes the period instruments can sound a bit weedy. I'll have to do more listening before I decide on something.


Ádám Fischer is a good one on Brilliant. I haven't heard it all by any means but I suspect it's worthwhile.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

My favorite HIP Mozart is Jordi Savall’s 2019 set of the last 3 symphonies. Big, bold, brash and just plain fun with very tasteful tempo choices. I like my Mozart full-bodied and luxurious, so the anemic, scratchy strings and speedy tempi of Gardiner and Bruggen don’t connect with me.


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## Rmathuln (Mar 21, 2018)

Itullian said:


> As above .
> Thank you :tiphat:


My favorite Mozart are The English Concert under Trevor Pinnock. They have spirited playfulness that to me suits Mozart very well.

For HIP Haydn the Brüggen recordings are my preferred versions most of the time.


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## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

I will start with *Haydn*:

Sigiswald Kuijken recorded an excellent set of London symphonies on DHM.

Norrington is very good in the last 6 London symphonies (99-104) with the aptly named period orchestra London Classical Players. A particular favorite from this two-cd set on Virgin is no. 101 "Clock". (Norrington later recorded all of the London symphonies with a modern orchestra, but I don't particularly like them).

Marc Minkowski made a good set of London Symphonies on Naive, but he ruined the "Surprise" symphony with a gimmicky surprise: a singer screaming when the surprise comes! (Maybe that's funny the first time, but.. 

Brüggen's London and Paris symphonies are terrific too - they have a big band sound, but they are played on period instruments. He also recorded a set of Sturm & Drang symphonies - I think they are good, but the Sturm und Drang period is just not my favorite Haydn.

Unfortunately Harnoncourt didn't record the London symphonies with a period orchestra. His recording on modern instruments with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is loved by everyone but me.

Harnoncourt with his very own Concentus Musicus Wien is smoking hot and hip in the Paris symphonies.
There is also a box with these symphonies with Harnoncourt and the CMW: 6, 7, 8, 30, 53, 69, 31, 59, 73, 45, 60 on Teldec/Warner which is often overlooked - very good!

I already recommended the DHM London symphonies by Kuijken, but he also recorded a whole lot of Haydn symphonies on Virgin: The Paris Symphonies and the symphonies no. 88-92 and also these: 26, 52, 53.

Unfortunately there is no complete set of Haydn's symphonies on period instruments that I would recommend. I tried one cd from the Hyperion cycle with Roy Goodman and wasn't impressed at all. 
And: Hogwood's Decca/L'oiseau-Lyre box is not complete: some symphonies are missing - among them The Paris symphonies and only four of the London symphonies are included. That is a terrible shame: I like Hogwood's Haydn.

Unfortunately most record labels have a terrible habit of not keeping Haydn's symphonies in print - so to a large extend you have to try to buy your Haydn CDs used or rely on streaming services such as Spotify or YouTube or whatever you have access to.

I can post links and pictures if you can't find the recordings I mentioned.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Itullian said:


> As above .
> Thank you :tiphat:









.








Amp smmc smmc s scam dc,m Schmelzer c


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> My favorite HIP Mozart is Jordi Savall's 2019 set of the last 3 symphonies. Big, bold, brash and just plain fun with very tasteful tempo choices. I like my Mozart full-bodied and luxurious,


It certainly is a distinctive sound!


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Ras said:


> Marc Minkowski made a good set of London Symphonies on Naive, but he ruined the "Surprise" symphony with a gimmicky surprise: a singer screaming when the surprise comes! (Maybe that's funny the first time, but..


The scream is part 2 of Minkowski's surprise. In part 1 the music got interrupted. Something dropped? I have got only sound but no picture, so I can't tell. Personally I'm not too bothered by the scream, as I only listen to Haydn once in a while anyway, and that's quite a funny moment, as well as the reaction of the audience in this live recording. Frequent repeated listening is not recommended though. :lol:


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## Helgi (Dec 27, 2019)

Mandryka said:


> Allegro Con Brio said:
> 
> 
> > My favorite HIP Mozart is Jordi Savall's 2019 set of the last 3 symphonies. Big, bold, brash and just plain fun with very tasteful tempo choices. I like my Mozart full-bodied and luxurious,
> ...


I like it!

There's a great energy to it, it's less civilized than others I've heard and all the better for it - the sense that they are wringing everything they can out of what they've got.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Helgi said:


> I like it!
> 
> There's a great energy to it, it's less civilized than others I've heard and all the better for it - the sense that they are wringing everything they can out of what they've got.


Yes, "less civilized" is a great way to describe it. Sometimes playing Mozart in a polite, mannered style (like Bruno Walter, who is probably my favorite Mozart conductor) can work wonders. But sometimes I just want to hear a band let loose and have fun with the music. Beecham is a good example of this on modern instruments, and it's why I love Savall so much.


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## Helgi (Dec 27, 2019)

The effect of the orchestration and recording dynamics makes them sound almost like *big* chamber pieces.

I also like his idea that the last three symphonies were meant to be a trilogy. It makes sense to me and in any case I enjoy listening to them in sequence.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Helgi said:


> The effect of the orchestration and recording dynamics makes them sound almost like *big* chamber pieces.
> 
> I also like his idea that the last three symphonies were meant to be a trilogy. It makes sense to me and in any case I enjoy listening to them in sequence.


Are all three on one disc? I wouldn't think they would fit.


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## Helgi (Dec 27, 2019)

I bought a download, so I can listen straight through them all 

The CD version is a bit of a puzzle; it's on 2 discs, with #40 on both CD 1 and 2 to give people a chance to listen to them without break. At least 39-40 and then 40-41. 

The K 477 funeral music is placed at the end of disc 1, even though it is intended to be played at the very end after #41.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Helgi said:


> I bought a download, so I can listen straight through them all
> 
> The CD version is a bit of a puzzle; it's on 2 discs, with #40 on both CD 1 and 2 to give people a chance to listen to them without break. At least 39-40 and then 40-41.
> 
> The K 477 funeral music is placed at the end of disc 1, even though it is intended to be played at the very end after #41.


Maybe the two different versions of 40?


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## Helgi (Dec 27, 2019)

According to reviews I’ve read it’s the same one on both discs


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

In Haydn's symphonies, I've most liked the recordings by Frans Bruggen (on Philips), Sigiswald Kuijken, Nicholas McGegan (with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & most recently, Capella Savaria: https://www.amazon.com/Haydn-Sympho...s=savaria+haydn&qid=1580760704&s=music&sr=1-1 ), Bruno Weil (with Tafelmusik & more recently, with Capella Coloniensis on hybrid SACD), Ton Koopman, Christopher Hogwood, Trevor Pinnock, and Rene Jacobs, and basically in that order, more or less. However, I've yet to hear Marc Minkowski's Haydn. In addition, I've only heard a single CD from Giovanni Antonini's current Haydn cycle, which I liked well enough, but suppose I was enthusiastic enough about to buy more issues, though I wouldn't rule it out. If I were looking to buy even more Haydn Symphony period recordings, which I'm not, I'd probably most like to hear the Haydn Sinfonietta Wien and Manfred Huss record some of the symphonies, after their two excellent sets of Notturni, Divertimenti, etc, on BIS.

In Mozart's Symphonies, I've most liked the recordings by Christopher Hogwood, Frans Bruggen (on Philips), Ton Koopman, Trevor Pinnock, Jos van Immerseel, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt (in the early symphonies), and again, in that basic order. I've not been as keen on Rene Jacobs' recordings, but liked him in Mozart operas, so maybe I need to go back and have another listen. The same is true for John Eliot Gardiner, whose Mozart conducting I've liked more in the operas (& piano concertos with Malcolm Bilson); although I don't think I'll be revisiting Gardiner's Mozart symphony recordings any time soon, since I've liked them less with further listening. Unfortunately, William Christie, who recorded a very fine Mozart Requiem and is one of the best Mozart conductors today, in my estimation, has never done any of the symphonies.


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