I've been thinking about that Joseph Haydn box set I saw on Amazon--
--and have been trying not to buy it. Mostly because $153.77 is a lot of money to a guy who retired after only 23 years as a public high school teacher...but also because (1) I'm at that point in my life where I'm trying to get rid of stuff, not acquire more stuff; I mean, I don't want my son to have to spend a month filling up a dumpster when I die, you know? And (2) I know how I am; I get fixated on something, and then a week, two weeks, a month later and I'm on to something else. I knew nothing about Joseph Haydn until I saw a(n excellent) PBS show (Now Hear This “Haydn: King of Strings”) a couple of days ago. What makes me think that I will actually sit down and listen to 160 hours' worth of his music? That's almost a full week of 24 hour a day listening! (I'm guessing at that total hours number, by the way, but there are 160 discs in the set, so I'd bet that that's about right.)
On de otter hunt...I did listen to every disc in the 170 disc Complete Mozart set. (Which apparently got completer. When I was fact-checking this I saw that there is now a 200 CD set version of the complete Mozart.) And in the days of my dotage I have proven to be extremely steadfast in my pursuits: I've finished Remembrance of Things Past, Finnegans Wake, the complete works of Henry Thomas Buckle, all of Shake-speare's plays, the eleven volumes of A History of Philosophy, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
But you know what? I don't really have to OWN the complete Haydn to listen to the complete Haydn, do I? I only need two things: a list of his complete works and access to The Naxos Music Library.
Guess what?
Wikipedia has a list of Haydn's works.
Guess what else?
The Louisville Free Public Library has a link to The Naxos Music Library.
So what the heck...I'm going to make it do what it gonna do. Starting with...the symphonies. I'd rather do a chronological approach, but just looking at that list of works shows me that that would be impossible, since there are a lot of pieces for which the date of composition is a range. And besides, this is how the pieces would be arranged in the box set, anyway.
1. Symphony No. 1 D Major (1759)
A mere 13:19, and consisting of 3 movements: "Presto" (5:07), "Andante" (6:03), and "Finale: Presto" (2:09). Haydn was 27 years old when he wrote this*, which seems kind of surprising; you'd think that a guy who wrote 108 symphonies would have started earlier...like several decades before he was born. Anyway...this was a delightful little piece of music. I listened to it twice through, and might could have another go or more at it.
Addendum: I was poking around on YouTube and found a lovely video of Symphony No. 1 which I thoroughly enjoyed for five reasons: (1) the conductor reminds me of Iggy Pop, (2) it takes place in a lovely concert hall, (3) the instruments appear to be ancient, and are true works of art, (4) I'm pretty sure that John Lennon was playing one of the basses, (5) the music is really peppy! Oh, maybe an extra one: (6) the musicians seem really happy to be playing this piece. Yeah, this is great stuff. Check it out HERE if you're so moved. I liked their performance so much that I decided I will go looking for some more of their stuff...and apparently that will include more Haydn symphonies, as there was a little blurb at the end of the video indicating that that was so. So look out, Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico...I'm coming for you.
Addendum 2: All of this has just made me want that box set more, of course.
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*And apparently there is certitude about the date on this one, so it was most definitely one of his earliest pieces.
2. Symphony No. 2 in C Major (1764)
Another short one (9:27). Which surprises me...I suppose because I am so ignorant about classical music, but I thought a symphony was an hour long jobbie minimum. In fact, I seem to remember (though I'm not going to go to the trouble to verify this) that in his book on music, How Music Works*, David Byrne said that the length of a cd was engineered specifically to accommodate a Beethoven symphony, which would put its length at around 90 minutes. But whatever. This short symphony has the same three parts as the first, so I guess that was just the way it was back in the day. It will be interesting to see when that shifts--as I am sure that it will. Speaking of interesting, I was wondering why it took Mr. Haydn five years to come up with his second symphony, so I did a little browsing on that list of his complete works, and it looks like he was busy inventing the string quartet during that "fallow" period. Go figure.
By the way, I tried to find a Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico video of this symphony and was unable to do so. I did find some other videos, but they were those static picture things, so what's the use of that? Also, the playing time was about a minute short on them, so either they were jazzing it up or skipping some notes. (Maybe they thought there were a few too many.) So I went back to the Naxos Library. Speaking of which, the internal search engine for this site leaves a lot to be desired. When I type in "Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 2 in C Major," I get this in the top six--
--none of which are Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 2 in C Major. I got frustrated with this after a few more search variations failed to yield the obvious results, so I typed in "Haydn complete symphonies" which led me to this Lovely--
--which seems to have them all...and in order. So thus ends my troubles with searching for individual symphonies unless I encounter a problem later on. I also might could look for different versions, just to hear what I can hear. (I am, after all, the guy who joyfully read six different translations of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice back to back a few years ago. No brag, just fact.) You'd think that there wouldn't be much...if any...variation in how a musical piece is played, since there is a score to be followed...but I have found that that isn't always the case. There are variations in the quality of the orchestra and of the recording process itself, of course, but there are also decisions made by the conductor...and possibly by the musicians...which affect the music. Though it's not the best comparison (since it's one musician and no conductor), I'm thinking of Simone Dinnerstein's recent recording of Philip Glass's "Etude No. 16" ( on A Character of Quiet--more on that HERE), which really substantially changes the piece without altering a single note--she slows it down and has a much lighter touch than the usual sledgehammer approach to Glass's music.
This was another delightful little symphony, by the way. I am particularly struck by the way that Haydn uses his horn section. Again, I don't know enough about music to say precisely what is going on there, but I know what I like.
Whilst listening to this piece for the 6th or 7th time...it is just delightful!...it occurred to me that one of the things I was missing was the experience of listening to a great piece of music on a good stereo system. My computer does okay...but it's just nowhere close to the experience of listening to music on my stereo system.
Of course, if I had the box set, I wouldn't have that problem, would I?
I could also invest in a set of speakers to hook up to my computer, I suppose.
And then I remember these little fellows:
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* A most excellent book, by the way, and well worth your time and money.
3. Symphony No. 3 in G Major (1762)
Um...I know I've already confessed to my ignorance in matters relating to classical music, but...how does Symphony No. 3 come beFORE Symphony No. 2 in terms of composition date? I looked to Wikipedia for the answer, and it just got more confusing. In the articles on the respective individual symphonies, it says that No. 2 was written between 1757 and 1761, and No. 3 was written 1760 and 1762. So why does the main article (the list) say that No. 2 was written in 1764? I did a little Googling around and it seems that the date listed on the main page must refer to the first publication of the music. So there you have it.
Oh, hey...I just noticed that the Naxos Library Haydn I'm listening to is the same group that you get in the Haydn Box I have been jonesing for. So there's that.
Meanwhile...
Symphony No. 3 in G Major is slightly longer than the previous two at 17:24, and it has four sections: I. Allegro (5:28), II. Andante moderato (6:51), III. Menuet - Trio (3:10), and IV. Finale: Alla breve (1:55). I don't know what the means, but it is different, so there's that.
The second section is just amazingly lovely. It reaches, it aches, it mourns. I am pretty sure that I hear a flue in the mix, but it hovers down underneath the strings, barely discernible. There's just a wistful hint of it every once in awhile. Oh...maybe not. I just Googled around and found some notations on this symphony, and they tell me that the Orchestra Instrumentation consists of 2 oboes, [bassoon], 2 horns, strings, continuo (harpsichord). So I guess that means that I'm hearing either an oboe or a bassoon? Sure sounded like a flute to me. Anyway...it was perfect. This was one of my favorite sections EVer. As in of all time and of all music.
I found a performance of this symphony by Downtown Sinfonietta at Grace Church, White Plains, New York...and when it got to that Adante moderato section, there wasn't anything but strings. Hmpf. So I found another video...this one conducted by Giovanni Antonini, but I think with a different orchestra. And? Hmpf. All strings. Am I crazy or what? I dunno. Maybe I'll give it another listen tomorrow.
4. Symphony No. 4 in D Major (1762)
I woke up at 2 am from an unsettling dream. Fortunately I did not find myself monstrously transformed into a vermin, but I did immediately know that I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. So I did what I usually do in these circumstances: I turned on my Kindle and started to read. After an hour of that it was obvious I needed another approach. So I thought, "I'll listen to Haydn!" And I booted up Symphony No. 4 in D Major. Well. It only took a few seconds to realize that that wasn't going to help. What a rousing piece of music. I was entranced by it, though, so I kept listening. Which is how I came to hear all 17:29 of this piece for the first time. Speaking of time, at some point I imagine I'll be wanting to total up the times for all of these symphonies. Or, even better, find that total somewhere. I mean, this is the 21st Century, right? Well, maybe. I spent 15 minutes looking around and couldn't come up with a total number of minutes and seconds. Though I did see that you can buy the set I'm listening to (for free) for a mere $34.99 on MP3 on Amazon...or for $112.71 on cd.
But as for this symphony...very stately stuff. Almost like a military kind of thing, but not in an obnoxious way. It has spee-wit. The middle part of the three slows it way down, and is my favorite part of the symphony, so I guess it's starting to look like I'm an andante kind of guy.
5. Symphony No. 5 in A Major (1762)
I watched a video on Kanopy about Haydn's The Creation* and decided that I needed to hear that right quick, so I went to visit the Naxos Library to see what I could see. And yowza...so many different recordings. You can't tell precisely how many without looking at each entry and counting them, since mixed in with the full length recordings are entries for any portions of the work--for instance, if a vocalist does one bit from the whole work--but I can safely say that there were at least 60 different versions of the whole. So I chose the one with the William Blake picture (of The Ancient of Days / The Great Architect, of course) on the cover...HAYDN, J.: Schöpfung (Die) (The Creation) [Oratorio] (Marshall, Cole, Howell, Popp, Weikl, Bavarian Radio Chorus and Orchestra, Kubelik).
Whilst listening to the first section of Die Schöpfung, I found myself thinking about dissonance. Which I might have thought about on my own, but I have to admit that the fellow from the Kanopy video did draw my attention to it, so tip of the hat to him. Anyway, I started wondering if Haydn had actually invented dissonance in music with "Die Vorstellung des Chaos." After all, he apparently invented the symphony AND the string quartet, so why not dissonance, too? I started looking around a bit...finding nothing but references to pretty modern music. So no answer on that yet. Though I did find something called A History of 'Consonance' and 'Dissonance' by James Tenney (available in its entirety HERE), and a quick (Wikipedia) check on Mr. Tenney seemed to indicate that he could possess the answer to my question. So there's something else I wouldn't mind getting around to. See? This is how it happens. I know I listen too long but then / One thing leads to another. I think this is why if you were good, you could take pretty much anything for your subject matter and teach a kid everything. Like baseball? Well, here's the history of the U.S.A. and literature and mathematics and...well, everything else if you keep pulling on that thread. It's all one sheet, man. (Note to self: watch I Heart Huckabees (2004) asap. And there we go again.)
ANYway...that first section of Die Schöpfung is pretty impressive. Alas, I didn't get all the way through it...but I'll be back.
BTW: In the course of the second part of that adventure (searching the Naxos Library), I also happened upon a listing for HAYDN, J.: Overtures (Complete) (Vienna Haydn Sinfonietta, Huss). Well...they had me at "complete." So there's another thing I'll need to have a look at at some point. Or, more properly, a listen at.
Also...yesterday I was looking around the internet just to see what other Complete Symphony sets there were for Haydn, and at Classical Net (to be exact) I read this:
Then this morning I was driving and listening to the classical music station, and as I pulled up to a stop light I looked down at my radio and saw (and photographed, obviously) this:
* I wish I could recommend this video, but, alas, like every episode of The Great Courses that I've watched, it really wasn't very good. If the teachers they are rustling up for these courses are truly the best that they can find, then we are in dire days indeed.
6. Symphony No. 6 in D Major Le matin
22:36's worth of lovely music, split thusly:
I. Adagio - Allegro (5:46) Nice, gentle, pulsing start to this piece, then about 57 seconds in it gets a bit rowdier...and a whole lot flute-ier, which, I'm sorry to say, is not my favorite Haydn sound ever. I can't hear flutes without thinking of little satyrs and fairies...and I hate little satyrs and fairies. BTW, I checked to make sure that the flute sounds really were coming from flutes this time, and, indeed, found
Instrumentation: flute, 2 oboes, [bassoon], 2 horns, strings, continuo (harpsichord)
Funny, though, I would have sworn I heard a harp in there, too, but apparently not. I guess I should have paid more attention to Gus Coin's classical music class back in the day. But I suppose plucked strings can sound like a harp, right? Anyway...I wish we had stuck with the pulsing sound of the first minute. Speaking of, Wikipedia informs me that "The nickname (not Haydn's own, but quickly adopted) derives from the opening slow introduction of the opening movement, which clearly depicts sunrise." Well. CLEARly.
II. Adagio - Andante - Adagio (7:52) Much slower section, much more to my liking. Hmmm. A pattern begins to emerge, doesn't it? There are exceptions, of course...many of them, I'm sure...but when it comes right down to it, my preference seems to be for a slower, more meditative piece. And I don't think it's a penchant for sadness thing. In fact, these 8 minutes do not strike me as sad at all. But when I think back to the Ist section (above), I think part of my derogatory little satyrs and fairies comment really means that the music seemed frivolous, bordering on silly. And I'm a serious girl. (A Jacquelinism, of course.)
III. Menuet (4:32) This is the best, least boring menuet I've ever heard. It actually sounds a little bit like an Alfred Hitchcock movie soundtrack and one part, where the plucked strings sound like a bass guitar. Hell...it's almost jazz!
IV. Finale: Allegro (4:26) And we finish it off with a rousing bit. Alas, the flutes are back to annoy me, though. Well, to each his own the old maid said as she kissed her cow (as me sainted mother used to say). Though I must say that if you just took the flutes out of this symphony I think it would have been much better.
I ended up listening to this one several times, but I was watching the Seattle Seahawks beat the shit out of the Dallas Cowboys through most of those "listens," so I really only deserve credit for one or one and a half good hard listens. I did have to go back and give that III. Menuet section another go, though. And when I finished listening to it, I listened to it again. Yeah, this is quite cool. Especially from about 1:40 to 3:15 in THIS version.
I was so jazzed about this (pun intended) that I sent a message to my son, who is a professional violinist, to see what he had to say about it.
News as it happens.
As for this Complete Haydn Box...
First, I found it on Presto Classical for $128.50, which sounds pretty sweet. Unfortunately, there's a catch: shipping is $36.25, which puts the total price at $164.75. So no deal there, but it gave me a nice little two minute fantasy.
Second, and better, it listed the contents. I haven't seen this listed anywhere else, and it should prove to be a useful checklist if I end up continuing this musical adventure. It goes like this:
Contents
⃞ Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 1 - 104
Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra
Ádám Fischer
⃞ Haydn: Complete Piano Concertos
Jolanda Violante (fortepiano)
L'Arte dell'Arco
Federico Guglielmo
⃞ Haydn: Violin Concerto No. 1 in C major, Hob.VIIa:1
Federico Guglielmo (violin)
L'Arte dell'Arco
Federico Guglielmo
⃞ Haydn: Violin Concerto No. 3 in A major, Hob.VIIa:3 'Melker Konzert'
Federico Guglielmo (violin)
L'Arte dell'Arco
Federico Guglielmo
⃞ Haydn: Violin Concerto No. 4 in G major, Hob.VIIa:4
Federico Guglielmo (violin)
L'Arte dell'Arco
Federico Guglielmo
⃞ Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E flat major, Hob. VIIe:1
John Wallace (trumpet)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Christopher Warren-Green
⃞ Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major, Hob. VIIb:1
Jan Vogler (cello)
Virtuosi Saxoniae
Ludwig Güttler
⃞ Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major, Hob. VIIb:2 (Op. 101)
Jan Vogler (cello)
Virtuosi Saxoniae
Ludwig Güttler
⃞ Haydn: The Masses
Choir & Orchestra of The Netherlands Bach Ensemble
Krijn Koetsveld
⃞ Haydn: The Seasons, Hob.XXI:3
Süddeutsches Madrigalchor, Orchester der Ludwigsburger Festspiele
Wolfgang Gönnenwein
⃞ Haydn: The Creation
Süddeutsches Madrigalchor, Orchester der Ludwigsburger Festspiele
Wolfgang Gönnenwein
⃞ Haydn: String Quartets
Buchberger Quartet
⃞ Haydn: Piano Trios
Van Swieten Trio
⃞ Haydn: Baryton Trios Nos. 1-126
Esterházy Ensemble
⃞ Haydn: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-62
Bart van Oort (fortepiano)
⃞ Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, Hob XX (Piano version)
Bart van Oort (fortepiano)
HowEVer...I also poked around on the Naxos Music Library, entering Haydn Complete to see what came up, and some stuff came up which doesn't seem to be on the Box list...such as String Quintets (Complete) and Complete Works for Lute and Strings...and now I'm wondering how COMPLETE the Complete Haydn is. Well...perhaps time will tell. Meanwhile, here comes...
7. Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Hob.I:7, "Le midi" (1761)
Which weighs in at 25:19. And when I went to search for the instruments used in this one (I just Google Score for Haydn Symphony No. 7 in C Major, btw) I found a discrepancy between how the work was divvied up. On Wikipedia, it shows this:
I. Adagio - Allegro (7:42)
II. Recitativo: Adagio - Allegro - Adagio (9:59)
III. Menuetto (3:38)
IV. Finale: Allegro (4:00)
But on the score page it says there are 5 movements:
I. Adagio – Allegro (C major, 149 bars)
II. Recitativo. Adagio – Allegro – Adagio (C minor, 29 bars)
III. Adagio – Allegro – Adagio (G major, 53 bars)
IV. Minuet - Trio (C major, 54 bars)
V. Finale. Allegro (C major, 131 bars)
It also says that the total time for the piece is 26 minutes. So are there 41 missing seconds? I dunno. And I don't know what this "bar" stuff means, as it doesn't seem to correspond to the time of the section very well. The Menuetto and Finale: Allegro sections are pretty close in time at 3:38 and 4:00, but not at all close in bars with 54 and 131. Well...what the hell do I know. But it seems odd. Or maybe I'm just getting odder as I pick the nits here.
At any rate...this was a lovely piece of music. I found the use of the horns to be particularly noteworthy, and this time around the flutes weren't annoying...there were more sustained notes instead of that frilly foppery that drives me nuts. Also, the Menuetto section was less minuet-ty...more because of the instrumentation than the rhythm. I liked the way it vacillated between the full orchestra blast and the quieter, just a few instruments playing.
By the way...I did a little catalog check to see what the Louisville Free Public Library had on hand in terms of CD copies of Haydn's symphonies. It was a lot harder than it had to be, as I ended up having to go through every entry and examine its contents, then construct my own list of what they actually had. So if you're an LFPL user who is inspired to listen to Haydn and want to go CD on it, here's what you can have:
Which isn't too bad..but does leave a bit to be desired. I ordered 14 - 17 and 18 - 21, and am looking forward to putting those on and hearing Haydn through the Big Speakers for the first time. I'm also wishing that I could just go ahead and buy that Haydn Box, give it a good and thorough listen, and then donate it to the LFPL, but I know from experience that that's not the way that thing works. (Sad to say, items donated to LFPL are first picked through by the librarians--and I know this because I dated a librarian who did this--then put out on a table to be sold for a buck or two apiece. I even called the library and asked if I could donate items that the library didn't have so that they could put them on the shelf and was told that that was very nice of me, but no, thank you, that's not the way we do business.) So there's that.
Speaking of speakers...I have been listening to the past few symphonies through my little Bosse speakers, and while it's not great, it is most definitely an improvement on the computer's speakers.
8. Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Hob.I:8, "Le soir" (1761)
21:48
I. Allegro molto (3:54)
II. Andante (7:36)
III. Menuetto (5:15)
IV. La tempesta: (Presto 5:03)
This sounded very Mozart-y to me...more specifically, Die Zauberflöte-y. Which is not a bad thing, of course. Just kind of took me by surprise. Also surprising...Mozart's Die Zauberflöte didn't appear until 30 years later, so I guess what I meant to say is that I've always thought Die Zauberflöte sounded a little Haydn-y...specifically Le Soir-y. ANYway...very nice, rousing opening section, followed by a lovely Andante. I've noticed in several pieces that Haydn likes to do a series of descending notes. Not sure what that is called. A decrescendo, maybe? Let's see...that's a decrease in intensity...not what I mean at all. Well...I'll stick with A Series Of Descending Notes. It is quite nice. He also likes to throw in a little solo line here and there, which I find quite effective. In the Menuetto portion of this one, there's a bass line that slides in and gives a very lovely effect as a contrast to the big sound of the other instruments going at it. Hey...this is the second Minuet part that I've found particularly pleasing. What is happening????
9. Symphony No. 9 in C Major, Hob.I:9 (1762)
A REALLY short one at 12:12. Speaking of...maybe it's time to start tallying up the running time on these things? I've been unable to find the breakdowns anywhere else, so if I want that information, I might have to DIM. Though I did find out that this COMPLETE BOX set's symphonies run to 33 cds. And there's another complete symphonies set (which sells for $800!) which says its running time is 39 hours and 44 minutes...but that set says it has 37 discs, so no telling if it has the same contents. Why do they make this so confusing, I wonder?
ANYway...No. 9 was nice (quite nice). Which of course reminds me that my ability to speak about music is so limited that I will run out of things to say about these symphonies pretty soon. In fact, I already have. So I guess unless something exceptional happens, I'm going to switch it to glide here and just make this a checklist for my own purposes...with occasional tidbits of information thrown in as I bump into them.
Speaking of tidbits...I just looked back at Amazon, and the box I've been talking about now costs $173.50...which is up $20 from when I looked at it just a week or so ago. Man. I wish my bank account got that kind of dividend.
10. Symphony No. 10 in D Major, Hob.I:10: I. Allegro (1760)
Weighing in at 16:23. Pulled this one up literally four minutes after getting out of bed, and it was a very nice little wake-up call. I had been taking it pretty slow with these things from the get-go, but I'm speeding up now, because the library just told me that these beauties
are waiting for me to come pick them up, so I'm kind of anxious to get to them. After those cds it's a long stretch before I can get any more from the LFPL (22 - 44), unfortunately. I wonder if they once had a complete set of Haydn symphonies but attrition gradually eliminated items and lack of demand...or lack of funding...or both...led to the current state of things. A missing chunk of 23 symphonies...and there's another big stretch of 15, another of 8, and various smaller gaps...seems like a pretty significant thing. Well, at least there's online streaming.
11. Symphony No. 11 in E-Flat Major, Hob.I:11 (1761)
(22:34) A much gentler start to this one that the past several (at least). In fact, things didn't really pep up until the final (IVth, Finale: Presto) section.
12. Symphony No. 12 in E Major, Hob.I:12 (1763)
(18:38)
13. Symphony No. 13 in D Major, Hob.I:13 (1763)
(18:06)
And with that, I made The Big Switch Over:
This will take me from Symphony No. 14 through Symphony No. 21. And I am hoping that I'll be able to take on the book about The Symphonies as well. (I regularly bite off more than I can chew.)
14. Symphony No. 14 in A major (1764)
(15:58) Two interesting things about this before I get to the music itself. First off, even though both of these CDs are on the Naxos label, they are different recordings from the ones I've been listening to if the Naxos Library. These are by the Toronto Chamber Orchestra, as you can see. Second, even though the first CD contains Symphonies 14 through 17, it is Volume 30. Hmm. So I did a little searching in the aforementioned (or is it "so-called"?) Naxos Library. And found that there is, indeed, a Volume 1 of Haydn Symphonies from the Naxos label, but it contains Symphonies Nos. 82, 96, 100. What do you suppose is up with that? Presuming that (1) they have 3 to 4 symphonies per disc, and (2) that there are at least 31 discs in this series, then clearly they have the complete symphonies...yet this didn't come up when I searched for Haydn Complete Symphonies on the NAXOS LIBRARY. Interesting. A little more searching showed that there are various different symphonies doing the recordings for this series as well. Well, that's understandable. 100+ symphonies sounds like the work of several lifetimes. But you know...I have more faith in an orchestra which performs all of the symphonies in a composer's oeuvre. I mean...it's not just a piece of music to them, is it? It's a small part of a much greater whole. I'm thinking of that blind men and an elephant parable here, but I won't translate. I will, however, illustrate:
ANYway...it looks like the only way to listen to the complete Naxos label recordings in order would be to search for each symphony individually, then look through a list to find the Naxos label one. Whereas with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra versions, all I had to do was search for Haydn Symphonies Complete and there they were...and all in order. Hmpf.
Okay. As for this Symphony No. 14...
Well, first a big AHHhh, because the Big Speakers make a world of difference. In volume, of course...these things
literally cause the windows and walls to shake if I turn up the volume. But the nuances of the music are there, too. Each instrument seems to be clearly defined...yeah. This is so much better that it makes me not want to go back to the streaming thing. Alas, since the LFPL has failed me (and probably not for the last time, God bless them), the only way to do that would be to Buy The Box. ($175.02 today. What's with the price fluctuations, anyway? This isn't the stock market. Or is it? Anyway...there's a note saying that the box on Amazon Right Now is the last one and that there are "more on the way," so maybe the stock price will go down when the resupply occurs? I shall be monitoring it.)
The horns sound especially good. There's a resonance to them that you just don't get from itty bitty speakers. All in all, this was a lovely, energetic symphony.
I enjoyed it so much that after playing it through four or five times, I decided to just let the rest of the CD spin away so I could take it the next three symphonies en masse.
15. Symphony No. 15 in D major (1764)(19:43)
16. Symphony No. 16 in B♭ major (1763)
17. Symphony No. 17 in F major (1760-1)
(14:44)
Oh, Amazon. Sometimes I feel like you're just fucking with me because you have an itch that needs scratching. But I DO happen to have a spare $159.93 on hand today....
18. Symphony No. 18 in G Major (1757-9)
19. Symphony No. 19 in D Major (1759-60)
20. Symphony No. 20 in C Major (1757-63)
21. Symphony No. 21 in A Major (1764)
(15:53)
--but I found it harder to just sit and focus on the pieces. I suppose what I need to do is just break it down and do one symphony at a time, because when I listen to three or four back to back, it all becomes just one piece. And I'm not looking for a check the box approach here.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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