Reviews

reviews: Haydn's Jahreszeiten

29.01.2009

The Nederlands Kamerorkest has now come up with magnificent performances of the sequel [to The Creation, Ed.]: The Seasons, conducted by Paul McCreesh. The daily life of people in the fertile countryside is sung about in such a cheerful and high-flown manner, it’s as if after the Creation the Fall of Man never happened. With Haydn it’s as [the Dutch poet] Hubert Poot wrote: ‘How agreeably the life of the tranquil farmer unfolds.’
Even though the size of choir and orchestra in The Seasons is considerably smaller than it was in 1801, McCreesh doesn’t skimp on the grand and the exalted, on the spectacular and the radiant. In his view The Seasons is every bit as good as The Creation. The orchestra is given a free rein under its leader Gordan Nikolic, one of the most fiery musicians on earth. The Nederlands Kamerkoor is allowed to produce an ample, full-bodied sound. And the excellent soloists – soprano Camilla Tilling, tenor Mark Padmore and baritone Andrew Foster-Williams – are free to let their large and expressive voices sound without restraint.
This is as Haydn was around 1800: continuing on from Mozart (The Magic Flute) and anticipating Beethoven (the Pastoral and the Choral symphonies) and, with his chorus of women at the spinning wheel, even Wagner’s Flying Dutchman.

Kasper Jansen in NRC Handelsblad, 26 January 2009

Haydn year gets off to an overwhelming start with The Seasons

The Nederlands Kamerkoor and the Nederlands Kamerorkest together ushered in Haydn year 2009 with a wonderful performance of Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Programming on the basis of round numbers is full of pitfalls, but any pretext for performing this great oratorio is welcome. Certainly if it’s in the hands of a conductor so tried and tested in the field of early music as Paul McCreesh is. He managed to conjure constantly altering, delightful sounds from both choir and orchestra.

Kees Arntzen in Trouw, 28 January 2009