Haydn Symphony No. 43 | Il Giardino Armonico | Giovanni Antonini

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Symphony No. 43 in E-flat major, Hob. I:43 (1770/71)
Il Giardino Armonico | Giovanni Antonini, Conductor

A big Thank You to our Patreon Florian Suter who generously supported this video!

In the lead-up to the 300th anniversary of Joseph Haydn's birth in 2032, the Joseph Haydn Foundation in Basel is organising, producing and financing the performance and recording of all 107 of the composer's symphonies by Il Giardino Armonico and Basel Chamber Orchestra under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, one of the most highly-respected specialists in baroque, early classical and classical music, with its project Haydn2032.

Tags: Joseph Haydn, Haydn2032, Symphony No. 43, Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini

[lymanmj]

One of Haydn's best, and a great performance. The intensity on the faces of the performers!

[adenekanadekunle]

Honestly, it is hard to imagine what classical music would have been without Joseph Haydn's utterly brilliant, surreal, celestial, and magnificent compositions. Without a doubt, Haydn was an intellectual giant in the field of classical music.

[matthewwhitehouse]

One of top three Haydn symphonies of all time! the second movement is utterly unworldly

[abdul]

Haydn’s “Mercury” has long been a favorite of mine, and this performance of it is positively addictive. Bravo!

[alistairkewish]

The best part about this recording is the accuracy - using authentic instruments in an historically informed performance. The speed is brilliant.

[mariastellascalora]

Un'esecuzione da brividi di questa splendida sinfonia
Grande Maestro Antonini!!!
Mitico " Il Giardino Armonico"!!! 👏👏👏

[mariaesperanza]

Como ferviente admiradora de Il Giardino y el Maestro Antonini desde sus comienzos, me entusiasma este proyecto. Muchas gracias!

[ft]

Many thanks to the Joseph Haydn Foundation in Basel for making possible that we can hear all this jewels online! Great Work, great idealism! 😀💗👍

[cesarecarricato]

Il progetto Haydn 2032 è stato un grande merito del maestro Antonini. Grazie

[leo]

A golden example of the delights of Viennese classicism.

[elaineblackhurst]

An overwhelming performance of a magnificent symphony.

Since Robbins Landon first described this work as a ‘...chamber symphony par excellence’, it is a useful way in which understand the composer’s intentions when the work is compared for example, to the powerful ‘sturm und drang’ intensity of Symphony 44 or the more ceremonial Symphony 48, both written around the same time.

The variety to be found in the symphonies, even those written very close to each other, is as astounding as it is remarkable.

This symphony of c.1770/71 was composed during an extraordinary period of about two or three years when Haydn produced not only symphonies of the standard of 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, and 48, but the string quartets Opus 20, and the piano sonata in c minor HobXVI: 20, amongst other works.

It should be stated clearly here that the sustained and inspirational quality of Haydn’s compositions at this time, is one of the most astonishing of all phenomena in the history of western classical music.

Charles Rosen in his essential text on music of the period ‘The Classic Style’ (1971) wrote that Haydn was at this time, writing music ‘...on a level that no other composer of Haydn’s time could equal or even approach’.

This symphony, and its performance here by Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico, illustrate exactly why Rosen’s comment has never been seriously challenged.

Antonini here is as a man possessed and his commitment and passion transmits itself to the orchestra and thus to the listener; in short, this performance is special.

I cannot stress sufficiently the supreme high quality of the music, it is music for the connoisseur.

For myself, some highlights of the symphony and its performance here, which has yet again in this series become a top recommendation, would include:
- the exquisite and intricate detail;
- the highest degree of compositional skill and facility;
- the originality and invention - almost every single eighteenth century commonplace figure is distorted or diverted away from, and out of its expected form or shape, sequence or pattern as Haydn defies every expectation in highly imaginative and interesting ways.
- note the 5 bar phrases and silences in the finale too;
- the delicate highly skilled orchestration and textures;
- the unpredictable shape of the melody and harmonic and tonal progressions (beginning of the first movement development for example);
- the intensive development of material in both exposition and recapitulation as well as in the expected development section proper;
- an interesting example of a ‘false recapitulation’;
- a fascinating monothematic first movement based on an unusually soft and lyrical first theme, almost more reminiscent of a composer like Vanhal (Robbins Landon);
- the management of the da capo (repeat) sections by Antonini was inspired;
- the adagio succeeded in being both slow but maintaining a degree of forward momentum - a movement of quintessential Haydnesque beauty, so totally different from the more sensuous, shapely cantabile beauty of Mozart;
- the substantial 41 bar coda in the finale with an interesting further development of previous ideas;
- some scholars have argued that Haydn ‘through composed’ some of his works; are the lyrical aspect of the themes of the first and fourth movements related? Is there a link between a three note ‘knocking’ figure in the first three movements?

I am going to raise one slightly dissenting note relating to the Menuetto movement, of which I would be interested to know the views of others.
Antonini in this series has routinely conducted these movements at a measured one in a bar; was this the symphony to to actually take it at three in a bar?

This is the first time in this series that I have felt the Minuet slightly rushed; I am not convinced that Haydn expected every Minuet to be taken at the same pace and the correct speed is often to be determined by the tempo of the adjacent movements and the overall balance of the symphony.

A final slightly poignant note: Robbins Landon notes that this symphony was performed in 1782 at the French court at Versailles for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette - perhaps a nostalgic reminder of home for a doomed Queen.

The short review: an electrifying, compelling and overwhelmingly powerful and emotional artistic experience.

Once again, so many thanks to everyone involved in this magnificent and revelatory series that is bringing to life the music with the same impact it must have had when it was first heard, and indeed, a greater impact than I have heard during my lifetime.

[shnimmuc]

Haydn, the most neglected titan of music. Fantastic performance and undertaking.10 more years of recording.

[fredericlegros]

Top prestige !!! Ne cherchez pas les meilleurs sont là. Regards from Krakow🤩

[josefernandoaristizabal]

Este concierto me llegó al alma. Gracias

[mereyeslacalle]

Avanzando hacia la conmemoración de los 300 años del nacimiento del genio austriaco, con Il Giardino Armonico . Maravilla !!

[josephrialan]

chaque nouvelle ecoute de ces synphonies est un ravissement . Le jeu de Giovani et de son orchestre sont d'un ciselé magnifique.

[anrewmartin]

The 2032 project is notable because it is well played and celebrates a true genius in classical composition. Giovanni Antonini is a true gem and his performances cannot be missed. I am thrilled to hear that more performances will appear within the next twelve years.

[abueloraton]

What a superb symphony, like all his other symphonies!

[claudio]

Una delle mie sinfonie preferite di Haydn, eseguita nel periodo fiorente degli Esterhazy. Esecuzione, direi perfetta al punto tale che se la sentiva di persona Joseph Haydn si sarebbe congratulato col direttore e con tutti i componenti dell'orchestra!

[tartinitrumpet]

It's exciting not because of the period instruments but that they play as though it were the period. To some Haydn wrote like a dictionary and to others high fantasy. Bravo H2032!