Haydn: The Seasons (jacobs)

Marlis Petersen, soprano; Werner Güra, ténor; Dietrich Henschel, barytone with RIAS Kammerchor & Freiburger Barockorchester directed by René Jacobs

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): The Seasons / Die Jahreszeiten; (Wien, 1801 - original version)

A prestigious series celebrating the bicentennial of Haydn's death.
The harmonia mundi Haydn Edition 2009 is, first of all, a project: to show that through – or despite? – a wide range of interpretations it is possible to generate an indirect portrait of a composer who is anything but monolithic. Whether they use period instruments (Freiburger Barockorchester, Coin-Cohen-Höbarth Trio, Andreas Staier et al.) or modern ones (Alain Planès, Jerusalem Quartet), all these artists offer living, tangible proof of the extraordinary cohesion, peculiar to Haydn’s music, between genre and idea, between language and instrumental resources. In the end, perhaps that’s what is called style.
WHEN NATURE TOOK ON NEW MEANING. The transition from Winckelmann to Rousseau marked one of the biggest upheavals of thought in the Enlightenment - and it is perfectly illustrated in these four Seasons with their decidedly Romantic 'descriptivism'! In this music, even though lambs frisk, fish teem and thunder booms, it is the question of Man within Nature that is the central issue.
Already a bestseller! By going back to the very first version of The Seasons (with the orchestral introductions played in their entirety), René Jacobs enables us to relive that day in April 1801 that saw the triumph of old 'Papa' Haydn.
Une collection prestigieuse pour célébrer le bicentenaire de la mort de Haydn
L’Édition Haydn harmonia mundi 2009, c’est d’abord un projet : montrer qu’à travers – ou malgré ? – une grande diversité d’interprétation, on parvient à former le portrait en creux d’un compositeur tout sauf monolithique. Que ce soit sur instruments anciens (Freiburger Barockorchester, Trio Coin-Cohen-Höbarth, Andreas Staier…) ou modernes (Alain Planès, Jerusalem Quartet), tous ces artistes nous apportent la preuve vivante, tangible, de cette extraordinaire cohésion propre à la musique de Haydn, entre le genre et l’idée, entre le langage et l’instrumentarium. En définitive, c’est peut-être cela que l’on appelle le style.
Déjà un best-seller ! En revenant à la toute première version des Saisons (avec ses introductions orchestrales maintenues dans leur intégrité), René Jacobs nous fait revivre ce jour d’avril 1801 qui vit le triomphe du vieux “papa” Haydn.