Although he died in 1809, the music of Joseph Haydn is still very popular today.
The Haydn project, described further below, has the objective to record all 107 of Haydn’s surviving symphonies.
This CD is Volume 3, titled “Solo e pensoso” and the selections we hear are as follows:
Haydn:
Solo e pensoso (Hob. XXIVb:20)
L’isola disabitata: Overture in G minor, Hob.Ia:13
Symphony No. 4 in D major
Symphony No. 42 in D Major
Symphony No. 64 in A major ‘Tempora Mutantur’
Performed by the Il Giardino Armonico, conducted by Giovanni Antonini.
This ambitious project is placed under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, who now presents the third volume, after two previous issues that attracted great attention and received numerous awards, including the Echo Klassik Prize 2015 for the ‘best orchestral recording’ of the year.
Since he sees the music of Haydn as ‘a kaleidoscope of human emotions’, Giovanni Antonini has decided to approach the symphonies not chronologically, but thematically; the theme here is Haydn the philosopher.
The Italian conductor has chosen in each of the programs to make connections between the symphonies and other works. For this volume, he calls on the magnificent soprano Francesca Aspromonte to perform a number of arias including the famous ‘Solo e pensoso’.
Here is the symphony #64 by Haydn:
