Ecstatic Living Room

It’s rare that I don’t begin the morning with some music by Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, usually a piano trio, string quartet or symphony, which I enjoy while reading the newspaper and drinking my morning coffee.  With so many works to choose from (he wrote roughly 45, 68 and 104 of each genre respectively!), you can listen for a long time without ever overplaying any one work.  If I had to pick one composer whose music conjures up the pleasure of comfort food, it would be Haydn’s:  it’s hearty, nourishing  and always inviting.

In 2009, the world celebrated the bicentennial of Haydn’s death (he was born in 1732 and died in 1809), but I don’t think he received the kind of shout out that he deserved.  Chatting with artists and writers I work with, I have yet to find one person who doesn’t like “Papa” Haydn’s music, even if it has never been as well-known as Mozart’s (Mozart, it should be pointed out, revered the elder composer and his music and dedicated a set of string quartets to him).  A writer friend of mine compared Mozart to a smoothly paved road noting that, by comparison, Haydn’s music was more like a scenic country road – bumps and all.

Haydn spent much of his creative life on the country estate of his patrons, the wealthy Hungarian Esterházy family, and in that relative isolation he said that he was “forced to become original.” Lucky for us! Haydn nonetheless achieved fame across the continent, especially in London where his two extended visits met with an enormous outpouring of public affection.  It’s no exaggeration to say that in in his two trips there he was greeted and treated like a rock star.

I’ve been a bit of a Haydn junkie since first discovering his music 25 years ago.  The reasons are pretty simple: the world can be a fairly rotten place, but Haydn’s music is exactly the opposite – it’s charming, earthy, (mostly) joyous, imaginative, clever and inexhaustibly fresh. Heck, it’s even fun.

If I had to pick one genre of Haydn works for my desert island I’d go with the symphonies. Our panel of experts below tell you a bit about their favorites (responses are in alphabetical order, to avoid bruised egos!), and some recommended recordings follow that.

Marin Alsop, conductor (music director, Baltimore Symphony): Choosing a
favorite Haydn Symphony is a bit like choosing your favorite child. I love Symphony No. 49, La Passione. It breaks ALL the rules and foreshadows the Romantic revolution around the next bend! Extremely emotive and moving!

Leif Ove Andsnes, pianist: I love the “Clock” Symphony, No. 101. The first movement is one of the deepest and at the same time most joyful pieces he ever wrote. The serenity of the opening, then when it turns to major in the Allegro section – such an exploratory atmosphere! The themes and rhythms are exhilarating.

Here is a YouTube video of Sir Roger Norrington conducting the first movement of Haydn’s “Clock” Symphony.

Jonathan Biss, pianist: If I’m forced to name a favorite Haydn Symphony, it’ll have to be No. 102. In terms of invention, it is probably no more remarkable than any of the great symphonies, and while its humor runs the gamut from the urbane to the slapstick, others are more uproarious. What makes 102 unique is the stunning, almost ostentatious use of orchestral color. From the florid cello obbligato in the slow movement, to the timpani rumbles that decorate runs in the finale, I can think of no other work where he exploited the possibilities of the orchestra in such a unique fashion.

Leon Botstein, conductor (music director American Symphony and Jerusalem Symphony): There’s no such thing as a bad Haydn Symphony, but I’m especially fond of the late ones – Nos. 98, 99, 100, 102. These have all the complexity, drama and imagination that are the hallmarks of mature Haydn.

Jeremy Geffen, artistic administrator (Carnegie Hall): Symphony No. 99 in E-flat major. I heard this symphony first while a viola student at USC. At that time, as now, the piece seemed bursting with distilled joy – a Falstaffian humanity. Every time I hear the work I feel as if it is the first day of spring, and think of the wonder of that first encounter.

Alan Gilbert, conductor (music-director designate, New York Philharmonic): How about 48, 45, 90, 99 and 103 for starters? These are just a few that would make my list as I don’t particularly feel like choosing one over the other! Among his other incredible qualities, Haydn’s ability to write a last movement like nobody’s business puts him in a category all his own.

Paavo Järvi, conductor (music director, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra): When I think about Haydn I think of my Dad. We played four-hands symphonies since I was ten, paying from the score! I love Haydn and Johann Strauss and both of them make me think of my father. Of all of the Haydn Symphonies that I love – and I love them all – I’ll choose No. 82, “The Bear,” which I recently conducted. I can’t help to think how wrong people are to think of Haydn as slightly gray and not exciting and a bit pedestrian. I can’t understand that reputation! His music is insanely entertaining. His music is like the orchestra bursting out laughing, but, at the same time, it’s perfection! Mozart and Beethoven called him Pape for a reason: you don’t call just anyone Papa!

Alex Ross, New Yorker critic: I’m partial to Haydn’s “Sturm und Drang symphonies, and especially the “Trauersymphonie.” The main theme of the first movement – rising fifth, rising fourth, falling semitone – is a rather scary entity, somehow putting me in mind of a gallows. Haydn spins out a customarily elegant argument from the idea, but it retains its threatening edge.

David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer critic: Symphony No. 100, “Military.” I love all of them because they so cleverly continue their thematic development in all regions of any given movement, and that’s definitely the case here. Also, Haydn was a creature of his own empire, so marches and such were a part of his landscape. And in second movement of this symphony, it’s so clever the way he turns a military march into high art – but without any undue grandeur or pretention. I believe the form is theme and variations. My favorite recording is Eugen Jochum with the London Phil on DG. But I hope that Roger Norrington will take it on soon, because I think he’s maybe the best Haydn conductor alive.

Howard Kissel, New York Daily News blogger and actor: Symphony No. 88: It has a gravity that reminds you he was Beethoven’s teacher, but a levity that reminds you he is Haydn.

Some box set recommendations:

If you have to own them all (and I wouldn’t discourage anyone from doing so), conductor Adam Fischer’s complete set does not disappoint, and is available in a lovely budget-priced boxed set from Brilliant Classics.

Haydn’s so-called “Sturm und Drang” (meaning “storm and stress” and related to a pre-Romantic literary movement emphasizing creativity inspired more by more personal, subjective feelings than reason) symphonies are very colorful, diverse and sometimes even a bit strange. Trevor Pinnock’s budget-priced set with the English Concert is always lively and vividly recorded.

Haydn’s most famous works, the so-called “Paris” Symphonies and “London” Symphonies are fabulously entertaining from first note to the last. Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt is masterful in the former; and Eugen Jochum is full of character with the latter.

Symphonies 73 – 75: I absolutely love “La Chasse” (The Chase – no. 73), especially the opening movement. Roy Goodman and the Hanover Band have a great one.

Sir Charles Mackerras and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s kick up some dirt with their rousing performances. Either 101 and 104, “London” or 100, “Military” and 104, “Drumroll” will do the trick.

For a terrific and handsomely-produced introduction to Haydn and his music, Harmonia Mundi’s “Haydn Celebration” (book + 2 CDs) features many photos and illustrations and a not-too-long biographical essay about Haydn’s life and works.