Customer Reviews

Haydn: The Masterworks (40 CD Box Set)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As always with these huge cubes of music it is not all good. But you get 52 symphonies in the excellent set from Nimbus, the complete piano sonatas on a period instrument, which are quite decent. The Creation is good. The trios are pretty good too, and the rest is mediocre. So, if you want a boatload of symphonies and the piano sonatas this is a good choice.

Not so familiar with the various editions of Franz Joseph Haydn's works, I can only say that this set has helped me discover his genius and charm. Hitherto, I had thought him to be something like a "precursor" of Mozart and van Beethoven. This is simply not true! F. J. Haydn has his own unique style, lively, surprising, ingenious, charming, never aggressive. History reports that F. J. Haydn was the only person able to bring Mozart to laugh. Special thanks to the late master Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter for his warm recommendation of the music of Franz Joseph Haydn.

This box es a very good collection, interesting, at a bargain price. Only defect is it: The contents of the disc number 28 is the repetition of the disc 29. Fortunately the disc (equal to 28) is possible to buy aside (published from Brilliant); and, by chance, I have it. But this is another history.