In this double-disc reissue from Novalis, Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie deliver six of Haydn's most popular symphonies with fine attention to details and abundant wit, verve, and color. Performing on original instruments, the Akademie often produces the wonderful, fresh sonorities one expects from a first-rate period ensemble, though its timbres never become excessively shimmery or tiresome. Haselböck likes to keep the music moving at a brisk tempo, but his Allegros are never so fast that accuracy is lost or that ...
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In this double-disc reissue from Novalis, Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie deliver six of Haydn's most popular symphonies with fine attention to details and abundant wit, verve, and color. Performing on original instruments, the Akademie often produces the wonderful, fresh sonorities one expects from a first-rate period ensemble, though its timbres never become excessively shimmery or tiresome. Haselböck likes to keep the music moving at a brisk tempo, but his Allegros are never so fast that accuracy is lost or that the tone becomes aggressive. In slow movements, Haselböck's pacing is a steady walk at Andante, but considerably more relaxed at Adagio, to allow flowing, leisurely playing of sixteenth notes, as in the Adagios of the Symphony No. 6, "Le matin," and the Symphony No. 7, "Le midi." The performances are tasteful in characterization and controlled, though some may be jolted by the really loud tympani strokes in the Symphony No. 94, "Surprise," not only in the famous Andante but in the...
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