Haydn: Symphonies 88-92 (CD review)

Also, Sinfonia concertante. Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. EMI 0946 3 94237 2 9 (2-disc set).

Dull. Veiled. Foggy. Muddy. Beclouded. Vague. Smeared. These were just a few of the words I jotted down as I listened to the sound of Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic playing Haydn's Symphonies Nos. 88-92 on this 2007 EMI release.

Not that everyone will hear what I heard. If you have inexpensive or undiscriminating speakers or if you're keen on listening to music through earbuds, you will probably not find any problem with the sonics at all. Forgive me if that comes out seeming snobbish, but this set sounded just fine on my computer speakers. It was on the big VMPS RM40s in my living room that it sounded as though someone had deposited a layer of grit and grime over the acoustic window.

I'm not sure why the disc doesn't sound as sparkling as it should. I suspect it's because either Rattle or the studio insisted upon recording it live. EMI recorded these performances in concert in February, 2007, Philharmonie, Berlin. I can understand with the tight financial situation in the record industry these days why a studio would want to cut costs by recording live. But you would think that with a conductor so prominent as Rattle, an orchestra so renowned as the Berlin Philharmonic, and a company so big as EMI, they could afford to splurge once in a while on a premium product.

Anyway, this lackluster audio response is doubly regretful when you consider that the performances themselves are pretty good. Rattle adds a little zip to Haydn when it's needed, plays it seriously when the occasion calls, and is generally playful in things like the false endings for No. 90. But when I compared the set to the Haydn Symphony recordings of Jochum (DG), Davis (Philips), Beecham (EMI), and Klemperer (EMI) on modern instruments or Bruggen (Philips) and Kuijken (HM) on period instruments, the sound cleared up remarkably. Another lost opportunity, I suppose.

JJP