Search - Franz Joseph Haydn, Daniel Barenboim, English Chamber Orchestra :: Haydn: 'Paris' Symphonies Nos. 82-87

Early Barenboim, middle Haydn, a nice mix

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/24/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The young Daniel Barenboim was a star on EMI conducting the English Chamber Orch. in rafts of recordings of Mozart and Haydn. Along with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the ECO pioneered small-ensemble recordings of classical masterpieces. It was a halfway step into the period-style era to follow. These "Paris" Symphonies of Haydn, for example, nearly parallel a set from Bernstein and the NY PHil. Purists will prefer the smaller to the larger sound. barenboim eschews any toy-like miniaturization of these works, inclining to be robust and a bit rough around the edges.



Even so, good as Barenboim is, his Haydn sounds a bit generic and lacking in style. By comparison, Bernstein is in top form, imbuing each work with ebullience and personality (his Sony set has much more good humor than Karajan's versions with the Berlin Phil., which come off too elegant and worked over). In all, a bargain two-fer of Haydn's totally charming Parisian jeux d'esprit is welcome, as long as you don't expect the last word in performance style. By the way, the sonics are a bit confined, and edgy in the treble."