Each new volume of the Haydn 2032 Series, which aims to record all 107 of Haydn’s symphonies by the 300th anniversary of his birth, is eagerly awaited. And Giovanni Antonini doesn’t disappoint, with his generous and dynamic direction breathing new life into the father of symphony’s works. Volume 13 gets off to a flying start with the opening fanfare of Symphony No.31 in D major, “mit dem Hornsignal” (with horn signal), which employs four horns—a rare thing before Mozart’s Symphony No.25 eight years later and of course, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Symphony No.59 in A major “Der Feuer” (the fire) is particularly invigorating with its joyous, almost surreal opening theme, setting the tone for the whole piece.Symphony No.48 in C major, nicknamed “Maria Theresia” (after Empress Marie-Theresa of Austria, mother of Queen Marie-Antoinette of France), was long confused with Symphony No.50, the piece that was actually written for the sovereign’s visit to Esterhazy castle where Haydn worked. The nickname, and the associated confusion, have nonetheless stuck to this day. This symphony is one of the most original and symbolic symphonies of the Sturm und Drang period—the German political and literary movement that permeated all the arts in the second half of the 18th century. All the volumes in this series also feature works which mirror Haydn’s corpus. Here, Giovanni Antonini has chosen to close the programme with Concerto for recorder, horn & continuo by Georg Philipp Telemann, which echoes the hunting symphony at the beginning. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Since the 2015-2016 season, Giovanni Antonini has been the "principal guest conductor" of the Basel Chamber Orchestra (Kammerorchester Basel, recreated in 1984 in the spirit of the first Basler Kammerorchester which was founded by the patron and Swiss conductor Paul Sacher). He is working with them on important discographic projects, such as the complete Beethoven symphonies (Sony Classical) which are proving to be a great success with the press; and the "Haydn 2032" project, which is set to comprise the complete hundred and seven symphonies by Joseph Haydn, to mark the latter’s 300th birthday. The first fruit of this vast complete collection, that is, this album, was created by Antonini's historic Italian ensemble and described as a work of "passion" (but how could it be otherwise with a personality as joyful and innovative as Haydn?). The record gets off to a flying start with the Symphony n° 39 in G minor, subtitled "Tempesta di mare" on a 1779 manuscript and which, curiously, no publisher has yet taken up. Although it does not break out of its formal framework, it is a work stirred by tempestuous winds which are scarcely calmed by an Andante that seems to arise out of nowhere. The Finale is all filled with Vivaldian cascades, painting a portrait of natural cataclysm, or of the agitation of a soul struggling with the first jolts of Romanticism. A childhood memory of Giovanni Antonini who had discovered Haydn through his Symphony No. 1, this final piece at the end of this first album was broadly influenced by the style of the Mannheim school which was then flourishing in Europe. The harmonic proximity of the Symphony n° 49 in F Minor "The Passion" to the ballet-pantomime Don Juan or the Feast of Stone which Gluck had composed a few years earlier led Giovanni Antonini to include Gluck in this first volume, a dream opportunity for the conductor to show how Haydn changed the fate of the symphony by introducing a dramatic touch tinged with irony. Antonini sees in the two composers the same turn of mind and a shared use of techniques, who nevertheless bring together very different aspects of life in their music. © François Hudry/Qobuz

The Haydn series continues with the Paris Symphony No. 87. Julien Chauvin and his orchestra keep shaking us up with historical instruments listening to Haydn’s works and several other forgotten scores from the same period. All of them were commissioned for the Concert de la Loge Olympique - ancestor and model for Julien Chauvin and his musicians – and all of them sank into oblivion during the 19th century, except for Haydn’s symphonies. The record offers an opportunity to experience some rare works of Grétry, Lemoyne and Ragué, and to revive the success that they once knew. © Aparté

The twelfth volume in the Haydn2032 series, in which Giovanni Antonini conducts the Kammerorchester Basel, is devoted to "games and pleasures". The symphonies recorded here, Nos. 61, 66 and 69, were composed for the daily theatrical performances held at Eszterháza Palace in the spring of 1776. For Haydn they marked the end of a festive period, before he had to return to the serious business of writing operas. The "Toy Symphony", attributed to Haydn for 200 years before it was discovered that it was in all probability composed by a Benedictine monk, completes the programme in a similarly light and cheerful atmosphere. © Alpha Classics

The last instalment of Giovanni Antonini's complete works of Haydn with the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico features three symphonies and La Scena di Berenice sung by Sandrine Piau. We know the story of the symphony “The Farewell", a subtle request from the composer to his prince to grant leave to exhausted musicians in his chapel. In the Finale, a moving Adagio, each musician blows the candles from his desk and leaves on tiptoe until the stage is empty. But this pleasant anecdote too often obscures any analysis of a work full of originality thanks to its rare key (F sharp minor) and the structure of its different movements. While Joseph Haydn sets out a classical framework for the symphony, he simultaneously explodes the schema by means of an architecture which is constantly renewed through a continuous motion from major to minor keys. This is the case of Symphony No. 35 in B-Flat Major which opens this album, constantly oscillating between pure entertainment and drama in a spirit which is totally peculiar to the eighteenth century. This long search for form led Haydn to take sometimes unusual paths, as in this Symphony No. 15 in D Major, which seems to synthesise his research from the late 1750s. The Minuet is for example placed in second position, before an Andante of great simplicity and a final Presto in the form of a rondo. Inspired by Metastasio's Antigone and premiered in London in 1765, la Scena di Berenice is Haydn's greatest dramatic scene outside of his operas. Abandoned by her lover, Bérénice sings her despair and rage through music full of boldness. © François Hudry/Qobuz

The Alpha label's Haydn 2032 series, produced in collaboration with the Joseph Haydn Stiftung (or Foundation), may be optimistically conceived. It's hard to say in what form Haydn will be absorbed in 2032; a guess could be something like Neal Stephenson's Metaverse. Be that as it may, the series apparently will have a pair of organizing principles. The first is that individual programs will be loosely thematic rather than simply running in numerical sequence. Here, that idea doesn't work out so well. The title "Il Filosofo" or "Der Philosoph" for Haydn's Symphony No. 22 in E flat major, Hob. 1/22, seems not to have been Haydn's own and to have been derived later on from a superficially dialogue-like passage near the beginning. And it's hard to see how the other two Haydn symphonies on the album fit into the plan. But the news is better with the second principle, under which each album will combine several Haydn symphonies with one by another composer. Nobody has done this, and it works brilliantly here: the booklet expands on the notion of "originality," but the listener may well have already deduced that novelty is the reason for the rarely heard Symphony in F major for strings and continuo of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composed in Dresden the 1730s or 1740s. It's an earlier work, but in its spiky melodic lines and experimental treatment of register it's easy to imagine that the young Haydn might have heard it. More broadly, the concept reflects how music might have been heard by audiences in the 18th century, when it wasn't yet clear that Haydn would emerge as the great. One looks forward to the pairings in future releases in the series. The rather old-fashioned silvery sound of the historical-instrument Il Giardino Armonio under Giovanni Antonini is clear and accurate, and generally this promises to be a Haydn series with fresh ideas.© TiVo

Since the 2015-2016 season Giovanni Antonini has been the "principal guest conductor" of the Basel Chamber Orchestra (Kammerorchester Basel, recreated in 1984 in the spirit of the first Basler Kammerorchester which was founded by the patron and Swiss conductor Paul Sacher). He is working with them on important discographic projects, such as the complete Beethoven symphonies (Sony Classical) which are proving a great success with the press; and the "Haydn 2032" project, a recording of the complete hundred and seven symphonies by Joseph Haydn, to mark the composer’s 300th birthday. Volume 7 begins with the extraordinary Symphony No. 67 in F major. This astonishing work showcases its author's boundless inventive faculty, bringing together an overpowering joie de vivre with passages of pure chamber music; the evocation of the village fiddlers or, in the wonderful and enchanting Mozartian Adagio, the use of the bows "col legno" (that is, used by striking the wood of the bow against the stands) long before Rossini in his opening to Il Signor Bruschino, remain particularly memorable moments. Mozart, the much-admired friend, is also present in this album dedicated to the impresarios ("gli impresari"), those theatre directors whom Prince Esterházy hired for certain shows that Haydn enriched with compositions which would later be transformed into symphonies – and which are now presented here, in this volume. In addition to the Symphony No. 67 described above, this edition offers an original version of Mozart's Thamos, King of Egypt in an exclusively instrumental form, as well as Haydn's Symphonies No. 9 and No. 65 which were written for use in the theatre. This theatre of passions that runs through Haydn's 107 symphonies must therefore be understood as a perfect match between the natural aspirations of the composer's own genius and the pragmatism that almost always governed the arts of the time. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Haydn2032, the ambitious project of recording the complete symphonies of Haydn, has been placed from the start under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, with two ensembles, Il Giardino Armonico, which made the first four volumes, and the Kammerochester Basel, to which this fifth volume and the next two are assigned. Another characteristic of the edition is that each time Haydn is set in perspective with another composer; here it is Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-92): ‘Kraus was the first man of genius that I met. Why did he have to die? It is an irreparable loss for our art. The Symphony in C minor he wrote in Vienna specially for me is a work which will be considered a masterpiece in every century’, said Haydn in 1797. Though he long remained forgotten after his death, Kraus made an active contribution to the movement of poetic renewal called ‘Sturm und Drang’ or ‘Geniezeit’ (time of genius) because such artists as the young Goethe broke free of all tradition to follow their hearts alone. When Haydn called Kraus homme de génie, in French, he probably had this context in mind. The two composers had met in Vienna in 1783. © Alpha Classics

The new Trio Ernest attempts to make a splash here with its cheeky buried-in-the-score graphics and unconventional Haydn All-Stars title, which doesn't make more than a little bit of sense, but the program and playing can stand on their own. Trio Ernest offers some late Haydn trios, all hanging right at the point where the piano trio was emerging as an independent genre, along with works that show the lasting influence of Haydn's chamber music. The players are right that this influence is a bit overlooked, showing up in works as diverse as a Brahms song (here transcribed for piano trio) and Ravel's little Menuet sur le nom de Haydn, with its musical realization of the letters of Haydn's name. Also included is Lieber Joseph! by composer Jacqueline Fonteyn, a work composed in a modernist idiom in which Haydn's melodic shapes and motifs are nevertheless easily recognizable. Trio Ernest has committed to including a work by a female composer in each concert, and this one bodes well for their ability to find interesting material and perform it convincingly. The Haydn trios themselves are imbued with the high spirits that are essential to a successful Haydn performance. With clear sound from the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, this release announces an important new presence in the crowded piano trio scene.© James Manheim /TiVo

Following his acclaimed recording of Beethoven’s Concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet returns to his exploration of Haydn’s Sonatas, described by the magazine Gramophone as "a major modern recording landmark in the Haydn discography". As in previous instalments, Bavouzet has programmed sonatas from Haydn’s early, middle, and late periods, giving added interest to the recital. Sonatas No. 10 and No. 2, dating from the 1750s and ’60s respectively, share the key of C major, but differ in form. The short No. 2 was almost certainly written for pupils whilst Haydn was working as a teacher. No. 10 is more ambitious and extensive. Sonatas No. 41 and No. 44 date from the early 1770s and show some influence from C.P.E. Bach and the "Sturm und Drang" movement. More virtuosic than the earlier sonatas, in these the trademark humour of Haydn is also more evident. Sonatas No. 52 and No. 53 were composed a decade later and are conspicuously more demanding, technically and musically. As in the case of the previous volumes, this album was recorded at Potton Hall in Suffolk, on a Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Piano. © Chandos

Haydn's piano trios aren't terribly often played in comparison with his instrumental works in other genres, and the general line on them has been that they are simple Hausmusik with violin and cello lines that may be omitted if desired. The Gaspard Trio, which has embarked on a complete cycle of Haydn's trios (this is the second installment), strenuously disputes this idea, and the group's playing seems designed to bring out the independence of the stringed instruments where it occurs. Perhaps the best way to look at the question is that Haydn is the true creator of the keyboard trio, and his output in the genre offers a fascinating look into his mind as he realized its possibilities. Rather than plow through the trios chronologically, the Gaspard Trio, playing modern instruments, chooses to make each volume in the series an independent release, containing music from various phases of Haydn's career, and here the group lands on three works from the mid-1790s. In these works, which Beethoven certainly would have known, the trio is indeed made up of three equal instruments, and the Piano Trio in E flat major, Hob. 15/29, is one of those Haydn works that seem to look forward to Romanticism. The Gaspard Trio gives it a warm, relaxed performance that's quite appealing, and in general, the group's Haydn is sympathetic and alert to little turns of humor or unexpected formal detail, although they apply improvised, non-notated ornaments that will be to the taste of some listeners but not others. Despite the Gaspard's belief in the importance of these works, the group does not try to put them on the plane of Haydn's quartets, which is all to the good; there is a lightness in the performances that is just right. The early Piano Trio in G major, Hob. 15/41, only occasionally assigns primary material to the violin; by the middle-period Piano Trio in B flat major, Hob. 15/8, Haydn was experimenting all over the place with the emancipation of the violin and cello. Another intriguing feature of the Gaspard Trio's series is that each volume has (and apparently will have) a newly commissioned work that comments on Haydn in some way; the one here, by the cellist-composer, Leonid Gorokhov, is intriguing. There is plenty here to make listeners look forward to what is going to be a substantial series; Haydn composed 45 piano trios. © James Manheim /TiVo