The kaleidoscope that is Haydn

Looking forward to the 300th anniversary of Haydn's birth in 2032, the Joseph Haydn Foundation in Basel and the Alpha label decided to record all 107 of the composer's symphonies, under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, who will divide the works between Il Giardino Armonico and the Basel Chamber Orchestra. Seeing Haydn's music as "a kaleidoscope of human emotions", Antonini chose not to address the symphonies chronologically, but thematically (the Passion, il filosofo, il distratto...). He also builds bridges between these works and pieces by other composers, either contemporaries of Haydn or who have connections with him. So, as well as Haydn's symphonies there will also be recordings of works by Gluck, Porpora, C.P.E Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Michael Haydn and Stamitz ... The third volume, which was released on August 19, has symphonies No. 42 (1771), No. 64 "Tempora mutantur" (1775; the nickname is Haydn's: Times change - did he want to say that Sturm und Drang was coming to an end, and that Viennese classicism was beginning?), and n°4, from the 1760s, a gem of his early maturity. In addition, we can hear the overture from the opera L'isola disabitata from 1779, and the aria Pensoso Solo from 1798, one of his last works, which gives this third volume its title.

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