Search - Haydn, Monoyios, Brown :: Haydn: The Battle of the Nile

Outstanding and varied period Haydn

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 04/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here is one of the most unusual and outstanding Haydn disks extant. The Four Nations Ensemble has put together a pair of piano trios -- played on a period piano -- with two Italian duets, the famous Andante with Variation in F Minor for keyboard, "The Spirit's Song" from Haydn's lieder, and an unusual and rarely recorded duet, "The Battle of the Nile", which the Penguin Guide says has been recorded one other time.



Certainly the greatest interest must be in this piece of music, a counterpart to Haydn's famous "Nelson" mass, written to commemorate Admiral Nelson's victory over Napoleon at the Nile. In this concert aria accompanied by fortepiano, soprano Ann Monoyios tells the story again. "The Nile with wrecks o'erspread," she says, "the curling smoke, the captive banners seat the doom of haughty France and break her galling yoke. (A bit of Haydn's irrelverent national humor in that last line, perhaps?) "Eternal praise, great Nelson to they name and these immortal partners of they fame!"



I love Haydn vocal music and must say this CD presents gifts I never knew of before. "The Spirit's Song", performed by Brown, is so lovely it makes me wish he'd record the entire set of Original Canzonettas with fortepianist Andrew Appel as accompanist. The keyboard trios are not my thing, to be honest, although I enjoyed the tinkly performances. The Italian duets are nice but insubstantial. On the other hand, Appel's performance of the Andante with Variations is good enough to compete with Brendel, Peraiha, Richter and the rest of the world's greatest Haydn players.



This is an unusual and unusually exemplary CD that has been around since 2001. Considering the state of the classical CD business, if you like this kind of thing you may want to act soon. This is the kind of CD that, once disappeared, never reappears. And it is too full of beauty and interest to never have been heard."

Haydn Hitting on All Six

Larry VanDeSande | 11/21/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This wonderful speculative Haydn soiree features vocal, chamber, and solo instrumental works written when the composer was at the very height of his powers. Like Dvorak a century later, Haydn could seem to do no wrong in the '90s, and the music he produced, even those pieces at the edge of or outside the repertoire, are done with the consummate skill of a master entertainer.The least of the works on this ASV disk is "The Battle of the Nile," an occasional recitative and aria based on a poem written by Lord Nelson's lover to commemorate his triumph over the French fleet on the Nile, which doomed Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. Despite the negligible quality of the verse, the piece shows Haydn's superb skill as a tone painter. And it features Haydn's characteristic dry humor in the somewhat overboard drama the composer imparts and that the performers capture well.The two trios, which the very good notes to the recording explain are actually augmented keyboard sonatas, are nicely contrasted, one in the minor key and the other in the major. The A minor trio is music in Haydn's Emfindsamkeit style--brooding, yearning, emotionally charged. The A major trio, on the other hand, is all smiles and energy. Both trios have marvelously impetuous finales that make for great listener satisfaction.Then there are the "Two Italian Duets" and "The Spirit's Song." The former is a lovely pair of love songs that, if they happened to bear the sainted name of Mozart, would be at the center of the duet repertoire. The later shows Haydn in a Gothic mood, capturing the spookiness of England's latest literary crazy, thanks to Horace Walpole et al. Again, this is fun.Finally, the keyboard "Andante with Variations," an acknowledged masterwork though not heard much today. The mood is that of the A minor trio: very stern and serious stuff for Haydn, very commanding as well.The performances on period instruments were obviously very carefully considered so that balances would be just right. The result, in the trios at least, is of hearing this music for the first time. Although I love the classic Beaux Arts treatment of the trios on Philips, the ASV recording shows how this music should sound, the fortepiano clearly a much more equal partner as should be the case. The vocal soloists blend very well and deliver their solo numbers with aplumb. And fortepianist Andrew Appel brings great feeling to the serious keyboard music, great dash to the bracing fast music. If you love Haydn, get this disc. If you don't, here's a great way to start."