Day 105: Awesome, Part Two

HaydnCD105Another FAVORITE!

I listened to these compositions on repeat today, probably 2-3 times at least.

It’s possible I liked this particular CD so much because a lot of these Piano Trios were from Haydn’s “Later Trios” period. He was slightly older, more mature.

Maybe he figured out how to write Piano Trios by that point.

Whatever. This is excellent music.

Providing the music for these Piano Trios is the Van Swieten Trio, which consists of:

Bart van Oort fortepiano
Franc Polman violin
Jaap ter Linden cello

Here’s a list of Haydn’s piano trios. The are referred to by their Hoboken catalog names, and their date of composition is not always certain. So I’ll Continue reading

Day 51: Hmmm. I Liked This Because…?

HaydnCD51Wow. What a difference a day makes.

Or, should I say, “What a difference an Act makes?”

For some reason, I like Acts II and III of La Vera Costanza less than Act I.

I have no idea why.

It’s the same cast and musicians:

Rosina: Ingrid Kappelle soprano
Baroness: Ellen van Haaren soprano
Lisetta: Maja Roodveldt soprano
Count: Albert Bonnema tenor
Masino: Frank Fritschy tenor
Ernesto: Rein Kolpa tenor
Villotto: Julian Hartman bass
Catharijne Consort violin?
Frank van Koten

And the same performance.

Maybe it’s because the music is less Continue reading

Day 50: Filet of Cinnamon Roll

HaydnCD50Today’s CD is La Vera Costanza (no relation to George, I’m sure). It is an opera in three acts, with Libretto by Francesco Puttini, published in 1785. Haydn was 53.

This morning, I’m listening to Act I.

And I liked it from the first few notes.

In fact, all of Sinfonia was delightful, as was the follow-up: Menuetto. Haydn’s orchestral music is magical. Track 3 (“Introduzione: Che burrasca, che tempest”) gives us a preview of the voices and the storyline. (By the way, as near as I can figure, “Che burrasca, che tempest” is Italian for “That storm, that tempest.”)

Here’s the cast and a couple of the musicians featured in this Brilliant Classics recording:

Rosina: Ingrid Kappelle soprano
Baroness: Ellen van Haaren soprano
Lisetta: Maja Roodveldt soprano
Count: Albert Bonnema tenor
Masino: Frank Fritschy tenor
Ernesto: Rein Kolpa tenor
Villotto: Julian Hartman bass
Catharijne Consort violin?
Frank van Koten

The first think I notice about the cast is that there are a lot of tenors and sopranos. If the stage is what movies and TV crack it up to be, the drama amongst all of those singers must have been incredible.

Tempest, indeed.

The second thing I notice — after doing a Google search of their names — is that nearly all of them have web sites in Dutch only. From Continue reading

Day 25: The Bear, the Hen, and the Lord

HaydnCD25We’re into something interesting now.

The first symphony on Haydn CD 25 is Symphony No. 82 in C “L’ours” (The Bear). It is the first of six symphonies often referred to as “The Paris Symphonies.” It was composed in 1786. Haydn was 54.

Symphony No. 83 in G Minor “La Poule” (The Hen) was composed in 1785. Haydn was 53.

Symphony No. 84 in E Flat, also composed in 1786, is sometimes referred to by the subtitle In Nomine Domini (in the name of the Lord).

Because these symphonies are part of something bigger — somewhat like a story arc in a TV series — I won’t comment on each one at length. One, however, Continue reading