Haydn String Quartets complete

[Gordon]

Anyone know of a recent complete set with a HIP quartet? I've had a quick look and have not found one in the usual places. I have the Decca Aeolian which I have had for a long time and am quite happy wth it - been playing through it over Christmas - but perhaps I should have an alternative version. If there is no complete set perhaps some recommendations for single disc or set by set versions?

PS: Ha!! just found this from Brilliant but a quartet I've not heard of before:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Complete-Quartets-Buchberger-Quartet/dp/B001V7SG8E

which appears to fill the bill, the review looks positive, anyone know it? No download available but it's only £2 a disc.

[Bryn]

The ongoing series by the London Haydn Quartet is the one to go for, to my ears. So far they have reached the Op. 33 set. For a completed survey, the Festetics would be my choice, though not all of them are easy to find. For a set with instruments in modern set-up, but with consideration for HIPP, the Buchbergers on Brilliant Classics are worth hearing.

[gurnemanz]

The Buchberger has had some good reviews and is very cheap at 19.99 Euros + 5.99 postage from jpc. I am tempted but already have one complete set (Angeles) so will probably resist.

[amateur51]

The Buchberger has had some good reviews and is very cheap at 19.99 Euros + 5.99 postage from jpc. I am tempted but already have one complete set (Angeles) so will probably resist.

Many thanks but I'm not as noble as you are, gurnemanz - that's one copy for a friend's birthday and ... one for me

Cheers for the recommendation too, Bryn

[MickyD]

I agree with Bryn, the London Haydn Quartet series is proving very rewarding to collect. I look forward eagerly to each release!

[visualnickmos]

You can't go far wrong with the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos - and very well-engineered recordings, they are.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

You can't go far wrong with the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos - and very well-engineered recordings, they are.

- but considerably more expensive (even on NAXOS) that the Buchbergers, and the Kodaly, like the Aeolians, use modern instruments.

But, here's the rub - it's not clear that the Buchbergers actually do use Period instruments. This very favourable review suggests otherwise:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=225322

... I like the idea of a CDRom (I didn't know these were still made) with extensive programme notes. There are some equally enthusiastic comments on Amazon, too (although at least one of the reviewers believes that period instruments are used):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Complete-Quartets-Buchberger-Quartet/dp/B001V7SG8E

[vinteuil]

complete - the Festetics. Tho' they are not always easy to find.

ongoing - the London Haydn qtt. Probably my favourite so far - more to come!

There are also interesting discs from the Mosaïques, the Salamon, and the Smithsonian qtts. I think there was a recent reïssue in a box of the Mosaïques, which wd certainly be worth having (I acquired them expensively one by one... )

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EO7XPPC

[richardfinegold]

Anyone know of a recent complete set with a HIP quartet? I've had a quick look and have not found one in the usual places. I have the Decca Aeolian which I have had for a long time and am quite happy wth it - been playing through it over Christmas - but perhaps I should have an alternative version. If there is no complete set perhaps some recommendations for single disc or set by set versions?

PS: Ha!! just found this from Brilliant but a quartet I've not heard of before:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Complete-Quartets-Buchberger-Quartet/dp/B001V7SG8E

which appears to fill the bill, the review looks positive, anyone know it? No download available but it's only £2 a disc.

The set that cite, by the Buchburger qt, received an ecstatic review, (or series of reviews as it was released in volumes) by a critic that I greatly respect, James North, in Fanfare. I bought one of the Brilliant Volumes and I think it is excellent, but I never shelled out for the entire set.
I think they play modern instruments informed by HIP, etc.

[Bryn]

- but considerably more expensive (even on NAXOS) that the Buchbergers, and the Kodaly, like the Aeolians, use modern instruments.

But, here's the rub - it's not clear that the Buchbergers actually do use Period instruments. This very favourable review suggests otherwise:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=225322

... I like the idea of a CDRom (I didn't know these were still made) with extensive programme notes. There are some equally enthusiastic comments on Amazon, too (although at least one of the reviewers believes that period instruments are used):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Comple.../dp/B001V7SG8E

As I wrote in #2, they use instruments in a modern set-up, but with consideration of HIPP (i.e. Historically Informed Performance Practice).

[Rolmill]

The ongoing series by the London Haydn Quartet is the one to go for, to my ears. So far they have reached the Op. 33 set.

I picked up this LHQ op.33 set cheaply recently. I had been intrigued by the combination of previous member recommendations here and the vitriol employed by David Hurwitz in reviewing one of their earlier Haydn sets, so was keen to audition it. I was very impressed, both with the musical approach and with the standard of their playing (pace Hurwitz); lots of passages made me smile with enjoyment and I will be looking out for more of their cycle.

Conclusions:
1. Go for the LHQ for really well-played and musical HIP versions.
2. Apply the inverse square law to the relationship between DH review scores and desirability of subject CD.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

As I wrote in #2, they use instruments in a modern set-up, but with consideration of HIPP (i.e. Historically Informed Performance Practice).

[Parry1912]

Perhaps we should go back to saying 'period instruments' in order to avoid confusion.

[Bryn]

I picked up this LHQ op.33 set cheaply recently. I had been intrigued by the combination of previous member recommendations here and the vitriol employed by David Hurwitz in reviewing one of their earlier Haydn sets, so was keen to audition it. I was very impressed, both with the musical approach and with the standard of their playing (pace Hurwitz); lots of passages made me smile with enjoyment and I will be looking out for more of their cycle.

Conclusions:
1. Go for the LHQ for really well-played and musical HIP versions.
2. Apply the inverse square law to the relationship between DH review scores and desirability of subject CD.

You have to remember the DH is little more than a shock-jockey. In his rather pathetic campaign against Sir Roger Norrington, for instance, he cobbled together a long 'research' document in which, among many other howlers he confounded flutter-tongue with vibrato. There again, a thespian at heart, RN does tend to overstate his distaste for the overuse of vibrato. Using one's ears to hear the performances he directs, rather than his words, will reveal the use of vibrato when he considers it apposite. It's the employment of vibrato as the app purpose fall-back tone production technique that he eschews.

[HighlandDougie]

Err ..... being no expert in matters-HIPP I'm not sure whether these recordings

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Quartets-10-CD-set/dp/B00EO7XPPC/ref=sr_1_14?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1389023806&sr=1-14&keywords=haydn+quatuor+mosaiques

are now regarded as hopelessly outdated/démodé etc etc but I'm very fond of them. At this price, they also represent good value