Haydn String Quartets complete

[Gordon]

Thanks all for inputs. Considering the various approaches in the HIP camp perhaps spreading the purchases around might be best even though it may end up more expensive in the end.

As a toe in the water I have been to Hyperion and downloaded a 96/24 FLAC of the Op33 from the LHQ for £12 [£7.99 for the MP3, their other sets don't seem to be available as downloads] and will see how that goes over the next few days. That recommendation for the Brilliant box from Germany at E19 +pp seems well worth getting [it's a lot more expensive at Amazon] even if it is a sort of half way house in terms of performance practice. If it's not much good then I could always pass it on as a prezzie!!! It's only money and you can't take it with you!

[Bryn]

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are now regarded as hopelessly outdated/démodé etc etc but I'm very fond of them.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

Not "hopelessly", but not quite up there with the LHQ or Festetics, perhaps. Oh, and nowhere near a complete survey. When I bought them as separate albums I paid a lot more than the asking price for that box.

[amateur51]

- 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

For those with open and independent ears, the complete set by the Buchberger quartet is available to listen to on Spotify.

I spent a good few hours in their company last evening and very rewarding it was too

[pastoralguy]

When I bought them as separate albums I paid a lot more than the asking price for that box.

Yes. That's usually the way!

[ahinton]

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.

I fear that no amount of listening to RN performances has done especially much to endear me to them or to his approach, but that ridiculous DH diatribe wasn't worth the paper upon which it was published and, as you imply, seems broadly typical of his apprent knee-jerk preference for seeking to use his pen principally as a weapon that ultimately doess little more than illustrate his liking for the sound of his own often sour voice; one might be tempted to think that he and another likewise habitually acerbic David (Dr C F W) almost deserve one another.

I can accept that RN has thought about the use of vibrato in the manner in which you describe in in your last senrtence here but at the same time I believe that this has, as you also note, sent him too far in the opposite direction. Whilst I claim no more for my take on RN's treatment of Mahler 9 at the Proms than that it is a strictly personal viewpoint, I have to admit that I found it bordering on the execrable and barely listenable (especially the finale); in broadly concurring with my thoughts on it, a Mahler scholar with whom I discussed it also noted that, in his view, RN had taken far too little account of researchable realities of Mahler performances during the composer's final decade.

But let us hurry back to Haydn's almost 70 quartets!...

[Rolmill]

You have to remember the DH is little more than a shock-jockey. In his rather pathetic campaign against Sir Roger Norrington, for instance...

Yes, I haven't seen any of his RN reviews, but I recall that he has been pretty blunt in expressing his opinions of some of Sir Simon's Berlin recordings as well. Perhaps he doesn't like English conductors (or thinks them over-rated over here)?

[EdgeleyRob]

The Aeolian Quartet box has been my in car/drive to and from work listening just lately,gradually working my way through the lot.
Someone on here suggested that starting every day with a Haydn Quartet is good for you.
It's working for me.

[gurnemanz]

The Aeolian Quartet box has been my in car/drive to and from work listening just lately,gradually working my way through the lot.
Someone on here suggested that starting every day with a Haydn Quartet is good for you.
It's working for me.

A great suggestion. Up with "The Lark" or maybe the "Sunrise".

[verismissimo]

The Aeolian Quartet box has been my in car/drive to and from work listening just lately,gradually working my way through the lot.
Someone on here suggested that starting every day with a Haydn Quartet is good for you.
It's working for me.

Nothing better, unless perhaps it's the symphonies, or the piano trios, or the sonatas, or...

[ahinton]

Yes, I haven't seen any of his RN reviews, but I recall that he has been pretty blunt in expressing his opinions of some of Sir Simon's Berlin recordings as well. Perhaps he doesn't like English conductors (or thinks them over-rated over here)?

I rather fear that it's somewhat more generalised and habitual than that...

[Bryn]

As I probably mentioned earlier, I already had nearly all the Buchberger survey within the 150 disc Brilliant Classics Haydn box. However, at the time that was released, nine of the string quartets had either not yet been recorded, or at the very least, not released. Buying the 'separately' would mean purchasing three double albums at a cost or rather more than the full set (if bought from JPC). That box arrived today. I think what I will do is rip the 9 'missing' quartets and burn them to three CD-Rs to add to the big Haydn box, then keep the box of 23 CDs (I'll remove the CD-ROM to the big box) in the car.

[MickyD]

As I probably mentioned earlier, I already had nearly all the Buchberger survey within the 150 disc Brilliant Classics Haydn box. However, at the time that was released, nine of the string quartets had either not yet been recorded, or at the very least, not released. Buying the 'separately' would mean purchasing three double albums at a cost or rather more than the full set (if bought from JPC). That box arrived today. I think what I will do is rip the 9 'missing' quartets and burn them to three CD-Rs to add to the big Haydn box, then keep the box of 23 CDs (I'll remove the CD-ROM to the big box) in the car.

Wow, Bryn, you must have a very big glove compartment in your car.

[amateur51]

Wow, Bryn, you must have a very big glove compartment in your car.

For his big gloves, MickyD

And you know what They say about men with big gloves

[Bryn]

Wow, Bryn, you must have a very big glove compartment in your car.

The box will be in the boot. Just a few discs in their slip cases will be enough for the small glove compartment. The long term resident there is a CD-R of 1981 vintage performances by Hoketus of works by Rzewski, Andriessen and Nyman.

[ahinton]

The long term resident there is a CD-R of 1981 vintage performances by Hoketus of works by Rzewski, Andriessen and Nyman.

I can think of another part of the car in which to site that but will be well advised to keep my own counsel on that!

Anyway - swiftly back to Haydn's Quartets!...