The London Haydn Quartet – Haydn: String Quartets Opp. 54 & 55 (2017) [Hyperion FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Joseph Haydn – String Quartets Opp. 54 & 55 – The London Haydn Quartet (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:33:12 minutes | 2,82 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: hyperion-records.co.uk | Booklet, Front Cover | © Hyperion Records
Recorded: November 2015, Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, United Kingdom

The London Haydn Quartet reaches the six great quartets published in 1788 as Opp 54 & 55 in another unmissable two-for-the-price-of-one set. Is it possible to have too much Haydn? The only sensible answer is ‘no’, especially when the music is performed with such intelligence and humanity as here.

Haydn wrote the six quartets of Opp 54 and 55 in 1788, by now a celebrated composer across Europe and still opera Kapellmeister at Esterházy. These period instrument players, whose very name declares their affinity for Haydn, excel in the latest in their Hyperion series. Ever spry in fast movements, faultless in dexterity and intonation, they find a special warmth of feeling in the slower moments: the songful Adagio Cantabile of Op 55 No 1, the puzzling, melancholy Andante of Op 55 No 2, the dark, hymn-like first bars of Op 54 No 2’s Adagio, out of which the violin soars in almost improvised, bluesy reverie. Too many pleasures to enumerate. Try for yourself. -Fiona Maddocksб The Guardian

Tracklist:
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet in G major Op 54 No 1
1 Vivace assai[8’14]
2 Andante o più tosto allegretto[9’08]
3 Menuetto[4’12]
4 Vivace[4’19]
String Quartet in C major Op 54 No 2
5 Vivace[9’16]
6 Adagio[3’03]
7 Menuetto: Allegretto[4’30]
8 Adagio – Presto – Adagio[6’36]
String Quartet in E major Op 54 No 3
9 Allegro[10’49]
10 Largo cantabile[9’14]
11 Menuetto: Allegretto[3’26]
12 Presto[5’56]
String Quartet in A major Op 55 No 1
13 Allegro[9’50]
14 Adagio cantabile[4’50]
15 Menuetto[3’17]
16 Vivace[2’48]
String Quartet in F minor ‘Razor’ Op 55 No 2
17 Andante più tosto allegretto[10’27]
18 Allegro[8’56]
19 Menuetto: Allegretto[5’17]
20 Presto[5’05]
String Quartet in B flat major Op 55 No 3
21 Vivace assai[8’13]
22 Adagio ma non troppo[7’20]
23 Menuetto[3’54]
24 Presto[4’32]