# Period Haydn



## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

Hola, classical compadres~

I recently purchased Anima Eterna's period Beethoven performance with Immerseel. It definitely lived up to its shining recommendations, and brought the following query to mind:

Has a similar thing been done for Haydn? Anything praiseworthy of course--like the aforementioned recording, I'm interested in something good in its own right and not just "HIP for HIP's sake."

Gracias!


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Haydn wrote 104 symphonies (or 106 depending on what you read). I only know of two periond instrument groups who attempted to record all of it: The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) and The Hannover Band (HB).

Regarding AAM, they released the first 77 symphonies (i.e. nos. 1 to 75, "105" and "106" - these last two are in fact early works). These are issued in 10 volumes of 3 CDs each, a project in the 1990's. They also recorded 4 other late symphonies earlier on in the 1980's; these were symphonies no.94, 96, 100 and 104, on 2 separate CDs. I have all these recordings. Fantastic. Unfortunately though, most/many of these are now deleted, but you might be able to find some of them on the internet. I think they have recently reissued symphonies no.94 and 96 on the _L'Oiseau-Lyre _label (which has a website).

Regarding the HB, they have recorded nearly most (but not all) of Haydn's symphonies, I think. I have some.

And then there are many other historically informed recordings done by many other ensembles, usually playing the late symphonies, say nos. 80 to 104.

If you want one single CD to introduce you to Haydn's late symphonies, I suggest try say, symphony no. 100 "Military", and 104 "London".


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

Interesting thread. I've been asking similar questions about Mozart in recent months, and making some marvellous discoveries which I need to report somewhere - I'll set up a Mozart thread parallel to this one during the next day or two, and we'll see if we can't pick up some useful guides to HIP recordings of both Haydn and Mozart. (Glad to hear you're enjoying Immerseel's 'Beethoven on a motorbike' set.)


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## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

Thank you for the comments! 

I realized as I was reading your post, Natalie, that I came off sounding like I wanted a complete collection of HIP Haydn's symphonies, when actually that's not really the case--that'd be too expensive for me at the moment in any case  So really any representative sample would serve to whet my appetite for now.


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2010)

The Virgin Veritas label has the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performing Haydn's Paris symphonies - on iTunes it is a steal - $7.99 for 6 symphonies. The album received very good reviews. I have the OAE also performing Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, and while it is not my favorite performance, it is still very good, and ridiculously inexpensive. That might be a good start.


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## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

Thanks for the recommendation, DrMike.

I thought I'd mention on this thread that I picked up this wonderful collection of Haydn's keyboard works for next-to-nothing via Amazon MP3. *It is delightful!*


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2010)

I saw that in the Mozart HIP.

I am still fairly new to Haydn, and while I am enjoying the symphonies, I am not so in love with him yet.


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

nefigah said:


> Thanks for the recommendation, DrMike.
> 
> I thought I'd mention on this thread that I picked up this wonderful collection of Haydn's keyboard works for next-to-nothing via Amazon MP3. *It is delightful!*


This is all very encouraging! Still waiting for my superduper cheap CD set from Amazon uk to arrive in the post.


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