Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 57, 67 & 68 (CD review)

Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Philharmonia Baroque Productions PBP-08.

Let me begin by saying that nobody does Haydn better than Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Well, OK, nobody does music of the Baroque or Classical eras better than McGegan and the period-instrument band Philharmonia Baroque. I say this partly because I've been listening to the PBO in concert since their founding in the early 1980's. As a follower of this ensemble native to my San Francisco Bay Area, I've had the pleasure of hearing them in a number of different venues, including First Congregational Church in Berkeley where they made the present album. I know, therefore, that it's dreadfully partisan of me to say so, but I've never heard anybody do Baroque or Classical music better.

What's more, I can't think of any other period-instrument band that does Haydn better than Philharmonia Baroque. The thing is, though, that on this album they're doing some mid-symphony Haydn, Nos. 57, 67, and 68. They are symphonies even dedicated Haydn enthusiasts may have trouble identifying. Of course, McGegan and his players have already done a number of the later and better-known Haydn symphonies, so I guess it's good to hear them in the less-well-known stuff, too. (I say "I guess" because I still wish I could hear the ensemble playing the more-popular and, frankly, better Haydn repertoire.)

The thing about Haydn is that he produced a great deal of music, much of it during short periods of time. During the 1770's, when he wrote the three symphonies on this disc while working in the court of his patron, Prince Nikolaus Eszterhdzy, he averaged some three or four symphonies a year. If some of them began sounding a little alike, well, it's understandable. Nevertheless, the amazing thing about Haydn is not that some of his works sounded like some of his other works but that so much of it sounded fresh and original. Genius will out.

Anyway, McGegan and his players begin with Symphony No. 57 in D major, written in 1774 and scored for two horns, two oboes, and strings. The nice thing about McGegan's direction is that he never goes all crazy on us as some conductors of period-instrument groups do. McGegan's tempos always sound well judged, always resilient and flowing, energetic without being rushed or wearying. In No. 57 he presents some thoughtfully measured contrasts that keep the music vital and alive, the outer movements cheerful and the seemingly simple slow-movement variations delightful.

Nicholas McGegan
Next is Symphony No. 67 in F major, written in 1779 and a little more ambitiously scored for two bassoons, two oboes, two horns, and strings. It begins, perhaps surprisingly, with a charming little Presto that McGegan keeps bouncing along with an effervescent spring. I kept picturing McGegan himself on the podium bouncing along to the score, one of the most striking things about Maestro McGegan being the enjoyment he appears to be having directing music of any kind. This symphony gives him ample opportunity to have fun. Then, the lyric slow movement gives everybody a chance to rest after the liveliness of the opening.

Finally, in this well-filled-out album (over seventy-eight minutes) we get the Symphony No. 68 in B-flat major, again written in 1779 and again scored for two bassoons, two oboes, two horns, and strings. It opens vigorously with a movement marked Vivace. However, McGegan doesn't treat it with any undue briskness. Instead, the music moves almost gently in a fluid yet outgoing pace, always alert, always stimulating. As he does with the other slow movements on the program, McGegan handles this one with grace and refinement, all the while maintaining a sweet lilt and buoyant cadence. The music goes out with a most-pleasing forcefulness that shows us Haydn had a wealth of ideas to supply, and Maestro McGegan is fully up to enriching them.

These are among the finest Haydn performances you'll find, and even if you are unfamiliar with the material, you'll probably enjoy them under McGegan's always charismatic guidance. And, also as always, the Philharmonia Baroque play with an exacting refinement beyond reproach.

David v.R. Bowles of Swineshead Productions produced, recorded, edited, and mastered the recording, so you know exactly who to blame if you don't like the sound. He recorded the album live at First Congregational Church, Berkeley, CA in February and October 2014. It's that "live" part that gets to me. I know some people love live recordings, but I'm not one of them. Except for maybe 2% of all the live recordings I've heard over these many years, I've seldom heard one that I didn't think would have sounded better recorded in a studio or without an audience. Fortunately, this is one of the better live recordings I've heard, almost making that 2% you could say. And, most fortunately, one of its merits is a lack of applause, which Mr. Bowles has thankfully edited out.

It's miked fairly close, as we might expect of a live recording, yet it still shows a good deal of air and space around the ensemble, as well as displaying a fine sense of depth and dimensionality. So expect maybe a fourth or fifth-row seat, with the orchestra well spread out ahead of us. Yet the sound remains fairly smooth, with no excessive brightness or forwardness in the midrange or treble, just a pleasant, natural clarity. Bass seems a tad light, though, and might have benefited from a modicum more warmth. The audience is remarkably silent, and there is little sense of their presence even during the quietest moments.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:


Meet the Staff

Meet the Staff
John J. Puccio, Founder and Contributor

Understand, I'm just an everyday guy reacting to something I love. And I've been doing it for a very long time, my appreciation for classical music starting with the musical excerpts on the Big Jon and Sparkie radio show in the early Fifties and the purchase of my first recording, The 101 Strings Play the Classics, around 1956. In the late Sixties I began teaching high school English and Film Studies as well as becoming interested in hi-fi, my audio ambitions graduating me from a pair of AR-3 speakers to the Fulton J's recommended by The Stereophile's J. Gordon Holt. In the early Seventies, I began writing for a number of audio magazines, including Audio Excellence, Audio Forum, The Boston Audio Society Speaker, The American Record Guide, and from 1976 until 2008, The $ensible Sound, for which I served as Classical Music Editor.

Today, I'm retired from teaching and use a pair of bi-amped VMPS RM40s loudspeakers for my listening. In addition to writing for the Classical Candor blog, I served as the Movie Review Editor for the Web site Movie Metropolis (formerly DVDTown) from 1997-2013. Music and movies. Life couldn't be better.

Karl Nehring, Editor and Contributor

For more than 20 years I was the editor of The $ensible Sound magazine and a regular contributor to both its equipment and recordings review pages. I would not presume to present myself as some sort of expert on music, but I have a deep love for and appreciation of many types of music, "classical" especially, and have listened to thousands of recordings over the years, many of which still line the walls of my listening room (and occasionally spill onto the furniture and floor, much to the chagrin of my long-suffering wife). I have always taken the approach as a reviewer that what I am trying to do is simply to point out to readers that I have come across a recording that I have found of interest, a recording that I think they might appreciate my having pointed out to them. I suppose that sounds a bit simple-minded, but I know I appreciate reading reviews by others that do the same for me — point out recordings that they think I might enjoy.

For readers who might be wondering about what kind of system I am using to do my listening, I should probably point out that I do a LOT of music listening and employ a variety of means to do so in a variety of environments, as I would imagine many music lovers also do. Starting at the more grandiose end of the scale, the system in which I do my most serious listening comprises Marantz CD 6007 and Onkyo CD 7030 CD players, NAD C 658 streaming preamp/DAC, Legacy Audio PowerBloc2 amplifier, and a pair of Legacy Audio Focus SE loudspeakers. I occasionally do some listening through pair of Sennheiser 560S headphones. I miss the excellent ELS Studio sound system in our 2016 Acura RDX (now my wife's daily driver) on which I had ripped more than a hundred favorite CDs to the hard drive, so now when driving my 2022 Accord EX-L Hybrid I stream music from my phone through its adequate but not outstanding factory system. For more casual listening at home when I am not in my listening room, I often stream music through the phone into a Vizio soundbar system that has tolerably nice sound for such a diminutive physical presence. And finally, at the least grandiose end of the scale, I have an Ultimate Ears Wonderboom II Bluetooth speaker for those occasions where I am somewhere by myself without a sound system but in desperate need of a musical fix. I just can’t imagine life without music and I am humbly grateful for the technology that enables us to enjoy it in so many wonderful ways.

William (Bill) Heck, Webmaster and Contributor

Among my early childhood memories are those of listening to my mother playing records (some even 78 rpm ones!) of both classical music and jazz tunes. I suppose that her love of music was transmitted genetically, and my interest was sustained by years of playing in rock bands – until I realized that this was no way to make a living. The interest in classical music was rekindled in grad school when the university FM station serving as background music for studying happened to play the Brahms First Symphony. As the work came to an end, it struck me forcibly that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, and from that point on, I never looked back. This revelation was to the detriment of my studies, as I subsequently spent way too much time simply listening, but music has remained a significant part of my life. These days, although I still can tell a trumpet from a bassoon and a quarter note from a treble clef, I have to admit that I remain a nonexpert. But I do love music in general and classical music in particular, and I enjoy sharing both information and opinions about it.

The audiophile bug bit about the same time that I returned to classical music. I’ve gone through plenty of equipment, brands from Audio Research to Yamaha, and the best of it has opened new audio insights. Along the way, I reviewed components, and occasionally recordings, for The $ensible Sound magazine. Most recently I’ve moved to my “ultimate system” consisting of a BlueSound Node streamer, an ancient Toshiba multi-format disk player serving as a CD transport, Legacy Wavelet II DAC/preamp/crossover, dual Legacy PowerBloc2 amps, and Legacy Signature SE speakers (biamped), all connected with decently made, no-frills cables. With the arrival of CD and higher resolution streaming, that is now the source for most of my listening.

Ryan Ross, Contributor

I started listening to and studying classical music in earnest nearly three decades ago. This interest grew naturally out of my training as a pianist. I am now a musicologist by profession, specializing in British and other symphonic music of the 19th and 20th centuries. My scholarly work has been published in major music journals, as well as in other outlets. Current research focuses include twentieth-century symphonic historiography, and the music of Jean Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Malcolm Arnold.

I am honored to contribute writings to Classical Candor. In an age where the classical recording industry is being subjected to such profound pressures and changes, it is more important than ever for those of us steeped in this cultural tradition to continue to foster its love and exposure. I hope that my readers can find value, no matter how modest, in what I offer here.


Bryan Geyer, Technical Analyst

I initially embraced classical music in 1954 when I mistuned my car radio and heard the Heifetz recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. That inspired me to board the new "hi-fi" DIY bandwagon. In 1957 I joined one of the pioneer semiconductor makers and spent the next 32 years marketing transistors and microcircuits to military contractors. Home audio DIY projects remained a personal passion until 1989 when we created our own new photography equipment company. I later (2012) revived my interest in two channel audio when we "downsized" our life and determined that mini-monitors + paired subwoofers were a great way to mate fine music with the space constraints of condo living.

Visitors that view my technical papers on this site may wonder why they appear here, rather than on a site that features audio equipment reviews. My reason is that I tried the latter, and prefer to publish for people who actually want to listen to music; not to equipment. My focus is in describing what's technically beneficial to assure that the sound of the system will accurately replicate the source input signal (i. e. exhibit high accuracy) without inordinate cost and complexity. Conversely, most of the audiophiles of today strive to achieve sound that's euphonic, i.e. be personally satisfying. In essence, audiophiles seek sound that's consistent with their desire; the music is simply a test signal.

Mission Statement

It is the goal of Classical Candor to promote the enjoyment of classical music. Other forms of music come and go--minuets, waltzes, ragtime, blues, jazz, bebop, country-western, rock-'n'-roll, heavy metal, rap, and the rest--but classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more. It's no accident that every major city in the world has one or more symphony orchestras.

When I was young, I heard it said that only intellectuals could appreciate classical music, that it required dedicated concentration to appreciate. Nonsense. I'm no intellectual, and I've always loved classical music. Anyone who's ever seen and enjoyed Disney's Fantasia or a Looney Tunes cartoon playing Rossini's William Tell Overture or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can attest to the power and joy of classical music, and that's just about everybody.

So, if Classical Candor can expand one's awareness of classical music and bring more joy to one's life, more power to it. It's done its job. --John J. Puccio

Contact Information

Readers with polite, courteous, helpful letters may send them to classicalcandor@gmail.com

Readers with impolite, discourteous, bitchy, whining, complaining, nasty, mean-spirited, unhelpful letters may send them to classicalcandor@recycle.bin.

"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa

"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa