Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Ticciati
Haydn Symphonies 31, 70 & 101
Linn
There seems to be an inexplicable ebb and flow in the concert popularity of the music of Joseph Haydn that left the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as rare defenders of the canon when they performed in preparation for these recordings at Edinburgh's Usher Hall. These symphonies are three of his finest, two from Esterhazy and the last, "The Clock", from Haydn's London years at the end of the 18th century.
It is likely, however, that they have been chosen as much to highlight the strengths of this band, because just as the earliest made use of a quartet of horns because the composer had access to good players in the court of the Hungarian prince, so the SCO now includes a young star in Alec Frank-Gemmill as principal to lead the foursome on Symphony No 31. The obvious pairing with that might have been No 73, La Chasse, but conductor Robin Ticciati's choice of the 70th is more revealing in the development of the composer - and symphonic writing in general - on the road to the best known of the three, No 101.
It is a great package, recorded with the care and precision we expect from producer Philip Hobbs, and with a thought-provoking essay by American musicologist Richard Taruskin that complements the rigor of Ticciati's approach.
Keith Bruce
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here