Harnoncourt on Teldec: Haydn to Schubert

This past Sunday I wrote about my embarking on a “journey” through the six Haydn CDs in the Warner box set of the recordings made by Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam but did not write about my thoughts at the end of that “journey!” The only information I did provide was the content:

Thirteen of Haydn’s symphonies are included in the collection, the earliest being Hoboken I:68 in B-flat major, completed in 1776. The other twelve are the last of the symphonies, known collectively as the “London” symphonies, since that is where Haydn composed them.

I concluded the article by emphasizing that “I still live by Leonard Slatkin’s precept: ‘You can never conduct enough Haydn or Schubert.’ Watch this space for further developments!”

The most important “further development” is that every one of the symphony performances is engaging from beginning to end. Harnoncourt shows just as much respect for Haydn as Slatkin does. That includes the composer’s playfulness, particularly when it comes to the interplay of loud and soft dynamic levels. (Hoboken I:64 is not the only one with “surprises!” The attentive Haydn listener quickly learns how to prepare for the unexpected.)

Nikolaus Harnoncourt on the cover of his collection of the Schubert symphonies (from the Amazon.com Web page for this album)

That said, I can now follow in Slatkin’s footsteps by making the transition from Haydn to Franz Schubert. Four CDs account for the eight symphonies as follows:

1. Symphony No. 1 in D major, D. 82, and Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D. 417
2. Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, D.125, and Symphony No. 6 in C minor, D. 589
3. Symphony No. 3 in D major, D. 200, Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D. 485, and Symphony No. 8 in B minor (“Unfinished”), D. 759
4. Symphony No. 9 in C major (“The Great”), D. 944

The first of those CDs also concludes with two concert overtures, both with the title “In the Italian Style,” D. 590 in D major and D. 591 (posthumous) in C major.

From a purely personal point of view, I rather enjoyed making the transition from Haydn to Schubert. The latter may not have been as prankish as the former; but, even in the somewhat majestic qualities of D. 944, there are always traces of engaging rhetoric. So, if Slatkin believed that one could never conduct enough Schubert, I would reinforce him by saying that the attentive listener is always likely to encounter new discoveries each time (s)he listens to one of that composer’s symphonies.