Haydn Symphony No. 87 | Kammerorchester Basel | Giovanni Antonini (Haydn2032, Vol. 11)

Wonderful! Both Haydn and the orchestra.

Hayden so großartig gespielt

Every moment in Haydnsymfonies is glorious!

Each piece in classical music is often a musical story, expressing emotions and meanings in a powerful manner. Every note and musical section contributes to telling a meaningful and emotional narrative.

Perfectly paced tempos! Orchestra sounds enthusiastic and enjoying the performance.

This is a superb performance of symphony n°87, which H.C. Robbins Landon calls “this stepchild of the Paris Symphonies”. For no apparent reason the work has been practically forgotten since the end of the 18th century until the appearance of LP recordings. This is all the more surprising after listening to such a powerful rendering as Antonini's. My first reaction at the start of the first movement was: “More moderate than 'usual' “. A much more striking case is Antonini's tempo of the first movement of symphony n°69 (CD n°12; no video because of the pandemic), which also is marked “Vivace”: there Antonini unbelievably needs nearly two minutes longer than Hogwood (8'10” compared to 6'19”; Derek Solomons needs 6'49”), and all three conductors play both repeats. I had a discussion about this issue with Antonini, and he explained that for him, coming from the Baroque, “Vivace” is a bit slower than “Allegro”, and this was still true by the end of the 18th century. It was only in the course of the 19th century that “Vivace” was understood as being faster than “Allegro”, and that is what we still think today. In the booklet of the next CD, n°13 (symphonies n°31, 48, 59), Antonini writes a highly interesting and informative article “Vivace ma non troppo” in response to a review in the Gramophone magazine in which the tempo of the first movement of n°69 was criticized for being too slow. In the case of n°87, however, one soon adapts to his approach, thanks to the energy and power of the performance. As mentioned concerning the performance of symphony n°24, Antonini again finds a particular delight in prolonging the pause at bar 122 (end of the development section, 2 ¾ bars silence) to enhance its dramatic effect, as he does too before the repeat of the second part of the last movement. The magnificent second movement is a hymn-like Adagio. Although being in sonata form, but without any repeats, the movement gives the impression of a free fantasia. The instrumentation is particularly beautiful, with many prominent wind parts. Interestingly, this is Haydn's last symphony in A major. In particular, it's rather surprising that among the twelve London symphonies NONE is in A major, neither, by the way, is there one in F major: four (!) are in D, two each in E flat, G, B flat and C (one major, one minor) – I deliberately exclude here the “exotic” keys E and H (sorry: B major in English: see comment by EB below) which, though, Haydn used earlier on (n°12, n°29 and n°46, respectively). In Beethoven's symphonies the keys are more evenly distributed: all principal keys are represented at least once, except G major which is conspicuously missing. Hence, Haydn's n°100 of 1794 is the last G major symphony until Dvorak's n°8 of 1889, soon followed by Mahler's n°4 of 1899/1900. I don't see any common character among Haydn's A major symphonies. In any case n°87 doesn't share the brilliance of n°5, n°59 and n°65 with their prominent horn parts.

You keep getting it so right ! Respectful tempi - wonderful texture and care for dynamics

12:58 He really loves his bassoon. ❤

These guys are good !! My Pappa Haydn.

Bellissima Sinfonia

各パートの躍動感溢れる､素晴らしい演奏を聴け感無量です。👏👏🤩‼️

Another amazing performance.

I've always thought that the "Paris" symphonies are the apex of Haydn' orchestral genius...and this last one of the six is a particular favourite (at least with me): the finale is unsurpassed! Wonderfully performed here by the Basel orchestra and the amazingly energetic Giovanni Antonini.

Absolutely marvelous 🎶

Great playing

Mi pare che le ultime prove dei nostri abbiano perso di smalto. Specie le due parigine affrontate non hanno minimamente la poesia e la cura cui Antonini e i suoi sodali ci hanno abituato con le meraviglie degli anni '60 e '70, cui davvero hanno restituito il giusto valore. Mi pare (mi pare) che da un po' di tempo vivano di questa rendita con piattezza.Peccato! Questa sinfonia 87 non aggiunge molto, anzi, a tante ottime letture assai recenti e reperibili sempre su YouTube. Confido, sempre con stima, nelle prossime 4 parigine!

It is 88, not 87…

Colossal Drop a like Ifelt like I'm over the Debussy‘s moon

💕💕💕💕