Search - Haydn, Hsu, Apollo Ensemble :: The Hidden Haydn: Apollo Ensemble

Transparent, Ingratiating, Excellent

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 04/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Hidden Haydn": Symphony No. 12 in E major; Symphony No. 64 in A major "Tempora Mutantur"; Symphony No. 44 in E minor. Performed by the Apollo Ensemble, dir. John Hsu. Recorded at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York, in June 1995. First published in 1995 as Dorian DOR-90226. Total playing time: 63'33".



Unfortunately, John Hsu has only recorded a few Haydn CDs; but those few, at least the two discs of symphonies, are among the best that I have ever heard; no wonder that they were chosen, back in the mid-90s, as "discs of the month" by the German early music magazine "Alte Musik aktuell". Hsu has studied Haydn intensively for many years, and with his Apollo Ensemble he is obviously attempting to re-create as exactly as possible the historical conditions at Esterházy Castle. For this reason, he does without a keyboard accompaniment (contrary to the wont of Roy Goodman on his Hyperion recordings) and keeps strictly to the instrumental forces which were available to Haydn during his "hidden" Esterházy years. The symphonies recorded here with audiophile flair by Dorian sound wonderfully fresh, as though one were hearing them for the very first time: transparent, ingratiating, always prepared to spring surprises (typical for the young Haydn!). All this is really stylish and "classical"; let me assure sceptics that this performance on historical instruments and under historical conditions has nothing whatever to do with "museum sound"! On this particular CD, symphonies 12 and 64 were comparatively new to me, but Symphony No. 44, wrongly known as the "Mourning" symphony, has often been recorded and I have interpretations by both Bruno Weil (Sony) and Sigiswald Kuijken (Virgin). All three recordings are excellent, but in the end I think I would have to state a preference for John Hsu because of the scintillating clarity and transparence of his chamber ensemble. As a matter of secondary interest, his strings are exclusively female; is it going to far to speculate that that may be one reason for the smooth, sensitive sound? Well, be that as it may, there is only one word for this disc: Excellent!"