Customer Reviews

Haydn: The Seasons

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Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809): The Seasons. Oratorio for soloists, chorus und orchestra [first performance: 1801]. Here performed by: Krisztina Laki, soprano; Helmut Wildhaber, tenor; Peter Lika, bass; the Choir of the Flanders Opera, Antwerp; La Petite Bande; dir. Sigiswald Kuijken. Recorded in October 1990 following on from a concert performance on 29 September 1990 at the Festival d'Ambronay; recorded at deSingel, Antwerp, Belgium. First published in 1992 as Virgin Classics 7 91497-2; reissued in 1999 at budget price as Virgin Classics 7243 5 61564 2 5. Total playing time: 138'06".

Sigiswald Kuijken is a proven Haydn connoisseur, and for this reason it is hardly surprising that he was the first representative of the early music movement to record Haydn's last great oratorio. Since then, there have been two further recordings made by representatives of the "historically informed" school, one by John Eliot Gardiner (on Deutsche Grammophon Archiv) and a more recent one by Rene Jacobs (on harmonia mundi, France). The latter, in particular, has received a tremendous amount of praise, both in the critical press and from Amazon reviewers, and it is probably the best recording around of this work. However, that does not mean, that Kuijken's recording is no longer worth listening to. Above all, it is his instrumental ensemble, La Petite Bande, extended here to meet the needs of Haydn's massive score, that can create a lasting impression with its fantastic and fascinating wind parts, and anyone who is able to allow herself or himself the luxury of listening to this recording at the kind of volume which the musicians would have created when playing live will no doubt enjoy again and again the details with which Haydn illustrates musically the meaning of von Swieten's rather pious and old-fashioned libretto - and with which Kuijken underscores the good performances by his solo singers. Listen at such a volume, I say, because the recording technique used here is not always totally satisfactory: perhaps because of the additional microphones used for the singers, I had the feeling at normal volume that the orchestra was not quite loud enough. The two male soloists, Peter Laki and Helmut Wildhaber, offer a very convincing performance, both singing lightly and without undue vibrato, and both obviously having a good understanding of the text and an enunciation to match. The Hungarian soprano Krisztina Laki, on the other hand, although she has a lovely timbre, is not one hundred percent perfect in her pronunciation of the German text - or at least, her enunciation makes understanding the sung text very difficult. And as Virgin Classics provide no texts with these re-cycled re-issues (and practically no documentation), as an inquisitive listener you find yourself asking what kind of text it was that "Papa Haydn" was putting to such fascinating music. My personal solution to this dilemma was to find and purchase second-hand (with the valuable help of Amazon Marketplace) the original 2-CD box, which contains a 96-page booklet with a libretto in French, German and English and all the information about the performers that one could desire (including all the names of the singers and instrumentalists). I'm afraid that if I hadn't been able to get hold of this older edition, I would now be rather frustrated - not because of the recording, which is good by any standards, but because Virgin Classics feel it necessary to do without even the most basic of information in order to keep the price so low.

I haven't heard Gardiner's version of the Seasons on Archiv (out of print) so can't compare. But this is as good as Gardiner's Creation. Kuijken's takes on oratorio material are always instrumentally a delight and this is no exception.

Only black mark - no texts as usual with these Virgin 2-for-1 sets.