Joseph Haydn:|Harmoniemesse & Symphony “The Clock”

Joseph Haydn wrote 104 symphonies, the last of which, his “London Symphonies”, belong to the most fully developed and most significant of them all. The “Clock” symphony Hob. I:101 is rich in content and expression, as well as the composer’s characteristic humor, even if its name does not originate with Haydn himself. The Gera Reuss Chamber Orchestra under the direction of the Frauenkirche’s (Church of Our Lady) cantor Matthias Grünert so impressively comprehends the musical depiction of time, that one could almost believe to hear the ticking of a clock in the symphony’s second movement: meter and formal expression – two interdependent parameters of a composition. Haydn translated all of this brilliantly into music, and the present recording affords the listener a fascinating glimpse into the structure of his music. The same applies to the interpretation of the “Harmoniemesse” Hob. XXII:14. Haydn, as with other composers during the years in which an imperial decree permitted no large orchestral masses to be performed in churches, lay up a rich store of musical ideas. These then broke out exuberantly in his last completed composition.