Michael Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 34-39 (CD review)

Johannes Goritski, German Chamber Academy Neuss. CPO 999 379-2.

Here's an early companion disc to the CPO Michael Haydn set I reviewed more recently.

Neither the music-loving public nor the recording industry has been particularly kind toward Joseph Haydn's brother, Michael. Where you'll find hundreds if not thousands of recordings of Joseph's works, you find only a relative handful of discs presently representing brother Michael's many hundreds of works. He was certainly almost as equally prolific as his brother but, unfortunately, nowhere near as original, profound, witty, clever, or, ultimately, vital. Of Michael Haydn's forty-one symphonies, record companies have recorded but a dozen or two in stereo, and, I believe, this disc gathers together most of the six pieces represented here for very first time.

The Austrian composer Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806) was, of course, Joseph's younger brother.  People today probably know him best for his sacred choral pieces, and in this regard some scholars believe his work may have influenced Mozart. Moreover, he taught Carl Maria von Weber and Anton Diabelli, so, yes, he was quite important in his day.

While not as memorable as the works of his more illustrious sibling, the later symphonies on this disc have strong characters of their own. Nos. 34 and 36 are particularly strong and inventive, and all of them come in typical three-movement, fast-slow-fast, Classical style.

The interpretations from Maestro Johannes Goritski and the German Chamber Academy Neuss seem more perfunctory than infectious, but they suffice to deliver the disposition of the music. For the collector or for the fancier of this musical period, the collection is a necessity and makes a good addition to the other CPO recordings of Michael Haydn's works from Goritski. For the merely curious, though, I recommend the sound above the performances.

The CPO audio engineers succeed in reproducing a big, bold sonic picture, reasonably well placed within an agreeable acoustic setting. While not purely audiophile in the sense of high definition, the sound is natural and pleasing to the ear. This music is hardly adventurous, but it is different, it is historical, and it is congenial; reasons enough, perhaps, for it to deserve a place on one's shelf alongside more noteworthy names.

JJP