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  • Symphony 88 in G major

    Votes: 15 65%

  • Symphony 89 in F major

    Votes: 2 8.7%

  • Symphony 90 in C major

    Votes: 3 13%

  • Symphony 91 in E flat major

    Votes: 4 17%

  • Symphony 92 in G major - "Oxford"

    Votes: 11 48%
  • Total voters
    23

Haydn Symphony Series Part 10: 88-92

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4.1K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  HaydnBearstheClock  
#1 ·
In between Paris and London… Does that make these the English Channel symphonies? :confused:

Hoboken NumberingOrder of compositionYear of composition
88901787
89911787
90921788
91931788
92941789

The 'order of composition' values include symphonies A&B, and so counts up to 106. Therefore, for these 5 symphonies the Hoboken numbers align exactly with the current believed order of composition, both with each other and in their place within the cycle.

http://www.haydn107.com/index.php?id=21&lng=2

Previous Haydn symphony threads: 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-81, 82-87
 
#3 ·
This one is easy for me (if I can vote for 2 when there are only 5, but even with 1 the choice is obvious): 88 and 92. They are easily the most famous of this group and there is a good reason for it.

88 is one of his most famous. I was initially unimpressed with it when I first heard it some time ago, but since I have realised how good it is. The first movement is very good, and even the minuet is too. An interesting piece of trivia: the trio has a drone bass which results in some bare parallel fifths. The last movement is even better, with yet another of Haydn's great rondo tunes. But what a gorgeous slow movement! On hearing it, Brahms is said to have exclaimed "This is what I want my ninth to sound like!".

92 is also good, though I prefer 88. For this one I find the last movement to be the highlight. The chromaticisms of the main theme are used by Haydn to such great comic effect! Still it has good first and second movements, as well.
 
#5 ·
A vote here for No. 90. This was the last C Major symphony Haydn wrote with the famous high (alto) horns, made famous in other works such as the "Maria Theresia". No. 97 is also in C, but being written for London where there were presumably no alto horn players the horns in that work are pitched normally.

The finale has that wondrous false ending--a cadence that makes one believe the work is at an end--then a pause, and it carries on from there.

This was actually the first Haydn symphony I heard in a live performance, so I still remember it fondly.
 
V
#8 ·
Any 2CD set recommendations with just these works? I've heard some of VPO/Bohm, BPO/Rattle, LPB/Kuijken, but not enough to make me bite.

Some impressions. I prefer Szell's "Oxford" (which I currently own) over a previously-owned Bohm's. Rattle is often hard for me to listen to at length, (not always, but often enough, he mucks with the music). I don't think LPB w. Kuijken is as successful as OAE w. Kuijken.
 
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