Having already enjoyed Manfred Huss’s boxset of
Music
for Prince Esterházy and the King of Naples (BIS CD1796 - see
review),
I
was
quick
to
lay
a claim for
The Complete Overtures. This 2 CD set - two for the price
of one - comes in a single width jewel case in the same nice cardboard slipcase
as the others in this series, so they will go together in a nice family group
on your shelf. As with the other set and the rest of the series, Haydn Sinfonietta
Wien’s recordings of these works were originally produced and released
by the Koch/Schwann label, and have been remastered by BIS Records for this collection.
The advantage of collecting the 22 extant overtures by Joseph Haydn in one place
is that the pieces chart the course of the composer’s creative career from
its beginnings in the late baroque, via high classicism to the tender beginnings
of that wholly new musical idiom, the ‘romantic’. This chronological
journey is followed by the sequence of the overtures on these two discs, starting
with
Acide (1762/63) up to
The Seasons (1801), the programme consisting
of overtures to Haydn’s operas, German Singspiele and oratorios. His operas
remain largely unknown today, but producing operatic entertainments was one of
Haydn’s principal duties during his long employment at the court of the
Esterházy family. By the time of
Orfeo ed Euridice he was taking
a break from this employment through the death of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy
in 1790, and with this piece written for production in London you can already
hear the advancement of greater daring in the musical language - pre-echoes of
Beethoven in fact, with plenty of wild harmonic twists and turns.
The later overtures were composed as the introductions to Haydn’s great
oratorios. Quoting Manfred Huss on this subject in his booklet notes, “Haydn
opened the musical gates far into the nineteenth century.” That justly
famous and remarkable
Representation of Chaos, the overture to
The
Creation, with its mysterious harmonies, was hailed by some of Haydn’s
contemporaries as the most revolutionary and modern music of its time. This was
extended in Haydn’s last major work
The Seasons, in which the introduction
to
Winter has a remarkable reach; seeming to draw Vivaldi and Wagner together
in an four minute aural painting which has more the atmosphere of a Turner than
the cleanly defined lines of, say, Goya - more of a Haydn contemporary.
You might think that with all this heavyweight expression on disc 2 that disc
1 would be more disposable, but nothing could be further from the truth. The
earlier works often take the form of a
Sinfonia, often with a three movement
structure which can hide even more musical nuggets than the later single movement
character overtures. The
Poco adagio central movement of
L’Infedeltà delusa has
a gorgeous solo for the oboe, and
Philemon und Baucis is very forward
looking - full of drama, but like all of these pieces, shot through with the
kind of wit which always keeps you on Haydn’s side. I also particularly
like the suspensions and little inflections in the opening of
Il Ritorno di
Tobia, which is followed by the kind of curtain raising passagework which
makes one want to hear the rest of the opera.
The Haydn Sinfonietta Wien gives us the best of that ‘authentic’ sound,
which has an open sense of clarity, and a theatrical dramatic feel which is based
on orchestral colour and dynamic contrast and articulation rather than sheer
massed volume of sound. This authenticity extends to the use of orchestral parts
based the originals used at the first performances, rather than later published
editions. There
is continuo as part of the orchestral mix, but this is
held low in the mix, harpsichord for disc 1, and fortepiano for the later works.
This hides itself in the texture even better than the harpsichord used in the
earlier overtures, being suitably unobtrusive through most of the recording.
Where it does come through is in a superb rumbly bass which drives the music
at crucial moments. Living with Haydn’s complete overtures is a bit like
living with a miniature version of his
complete
symphonies, watching a career and personality grow and develop over two discs
rather than the equivalent of over 30. True, he was somewhat restricted by his
service at Eszterháza - the ‘Hungarian Versailles’ - but as
with the earlier symphonies, these pieces all have an energy and a creative sparkle
which no doubt transcended even the high expectations of his employers. For this
reason, and because the Haydn Sinfonietta Wien once again comes like a breath
of fresh air through your speakers,
I would recommend this set wholeheartedly
to anyone. The fact that there is virtually no competition out there for a collection
of this nature
and is being marketed at a very reasonable price makes
it one of life’s little gifts.
Dominy Clements
Track listing
Acide: Sinfonia in D major, Hob.Ia:5 (1762/63rev.1773) [6:45]
Lo Speziale: Sinfonia in G major, Hob.Ia:10 (1768) [6:01]
Le Pescatrici: Sinfonia in D major, Hob.I:106 (1769-1770) [3:11]
L’Infedeltà delusa: Sinfonia in C major, Hob.Ia:1 (1773) [7:40]
Der Götterrath: Sinfonia in C major, Hob.XXIXa:1a (1773) [3:40]
Philemon und Baucis: Overture in D minor, Hob.Ia:8 (1773) [5:51]
Il Ritorno di Tobia: Overture in C minor, Hob.Ia:2 (1774) [6:15]
L’Incontro improvviso: Sinfonia in D major, Hob.Ia:6 (1775) [7:10]
Die Feuersbrunst: Sinfonia in C major, Hob.XXIXa:4 (1776-77) [8:14]
Il Mondo della Luna: Sinfonia in C major, Hob.XXVIII:7 (1777) [4:24]
Overture in D major, Hob.Ia:7 (1777) [4:12]
La vera costanza: Sinfonia in B major, Hob.Ia:15 (1778/85) [8:08]
L’Isola disabitata: Overture in G minor, Hob.Ia:13 (1779) [7:10]
La fedeltà premiata: Sinfonia in D major, Hob.Ia:11 (1780) [3:41]
Orlando Paladino: Sinfonia in B major, Hob.Ia:16 (1782) [3:25]
Armida: Sinfonia in B major, Hob.Ia:14 (1783) [5:18]
Overture in D major, Hob.Ia:4 (1784?) [3:28]
Die Sieben Letzten Worte Unseres Erlösers Am Kreuze: Introduzione in D minor,
Hob.XX:1 (original version for orchestra; 1785-86) [4:52]
Orfeo ed Euridice ossia L’Animo del Filosofo: Overture in C major, Hob.Ia:3
(1791) [3:45]
Die Schöpfung: Overture ‘Die Vorstellung des Chaos’, Hob.XXI:2
(1797) [4:59]
Die Jahreszeiten: Overture to ‘Der Herbst’, Hob.XXI:3 (1801) [2:12]
Die Jahreszeiten: Overture to ‘Der Winter’, Hob.XXI:3 (1801) [3:58]
Haydn Sinfonietta
Wien/Manfred Huss 
