[TR24][OF] Joseph Haydn - Symphonies No. 97 & 102 - Haydn Philharmonie, Adam Fischer - 2007 (Orchestral)

The Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic was founded in 1987 out of members of the Vienna Philharmonic and the prestigious Hungarian orchestras on the initiative of the conductor Adam Fischer. It was Fischer’s intention – before the fall of the "Iron Curtain" – to bring together the best musicians from these two countries in order to musically overcome the border by playing the works by Joseph Haydn. The obvious venue and base for the orchestra is the Haydnsaal in the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt – the location where Joseph Haydn composed so many of his works and which has remained virtually unchanged since the time when Haydn lived there.
The Haydn Philharmonic generally comprises 45 musicians, a few more than Joseph Haydn had available to him in the heyday of his time as court music director at Esterházy. Haydn’s works and those of his contemporaries dominate the repertoire, though works from the Romantic and modern eras are also performed.
The concerts given by the Haydn Philharmonic conducted by Adam Fischer are, like Haydn’s operas, a permanent fixture in the programme of the International Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt. At the same time, the orchestra has made a name for itself thanks to numerous tours and performances in Austria, Hungary, throughout Europe and in the USA and Japan.
Invitations to perform at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, the Budapest Spring Festival and the Palace of Arts or the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, the Musikverein Graz, the Tonhalle in Zürich, the Victoria Hall Geneva, the Festival Hall Baden-Baden, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Auditorio Nacional Madrid and Palau de la Musica Barcelona, the London BBC Proms or the New York "Mostly Mozart" Festival are all proof of the ensemble’s development as an internationally highly acclaimed orchestra.
In "Haydn Year 2009" the orchestra will celebrate the 200. anniversary of Joseph Haydn’s death with a performance of his Creation at the Esterházy Palace. Besides this the orchestra is invited to perform in the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Palace of Arts Budapest, the Luxemburg Philharmonie, the auditorio Nacional Madrid, in Brussels, Graz, Innsbruck and Brünn. In addition tours to Switzerland, Germany and Japan are on the schedule of this year.
Between 1987 and 2001 the orchestra has recorded all of Haydn’s symphonies for Nimbus records; the recordings of the symphonies 40 to 54 earned the accolade of "
Since 2004 Adam Fischer and the Haydn Philharmonic are re-recording the "London" symphonies by Haydn for the Dabringhaus & Grimm label in surround sound technique. The first recording of this set was awarded in 2006 the prestigious "Echo Klassik" award as well as the second with an Echo Klassik 2008.
Best of the Year" from the English music magazine Gramophone.
Ádám Fischer (born in Budapest September 9, 1949) is a Hungarian conductor of Jewish family origin. He is the general music director of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra,[1] with which he has recorded the complete Haydn symphonies for the Nimbus label, the first digital recording of the cycle. He is also Music Director of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Chief Conductor of the Danish Radio Sinfonietta. He is an elder brother of the conductor Ivan Fischer. The two belonged to the children's choir of Budapest National Opera house, and sang as two of the three boys in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.
Ádám Fischer studied piano and composition at the Bartok Conservatory in Budapest, and conducting with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. He won first prize in the Milan Guido Cantelli Competition. His career began with opera conducting in Munich, Freiburg, and other German cities. In 1982 he made his Paris Opéra debut, leading Der Rosenkavalier, and in 1986 he made his debut at La Scala, Milan, leading Die Zauberflöte. Between 1987 and 1992 he was the general music director in Kassel.
He has led symphonic concerts since the mid-1970s with such orchestras as the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared the New York Mostly Mozart festival four times.
He began a long collaboration with the Vienna State Opera in 1973, and also has worked regularly with the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera, and elsewhere.
In 1987 Adam Fischer established the Austrian-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra and started the Haydn Festival in the Austrian Eisenstadt. In July 1989, Fischer started the first Gustav Mahler Festivals in Kassel, and he directed as an artistic director.
Adam Fischer has recorded for Nimbus, CBS, EMI, Hungaroton and Delta. In 1982 he won the Grand Prix du Disque.

How much Haydn is enough Haydn? Now that all the symphonies have been recorded several times, now that period-instrument and modern-instrument performances are available, and now that original versions, published versions, and variant versions have all been documented, is there really a need for more Haydn recordings? More specifically, is there really a need for a second series of recordings of Haydn's symphonies with Adam Fischer leading the Österreichisch-Ungarische Haydn-Philharmonie (aka the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic)? After all, they had already recorded all of Haydn's symphonies label in the '90s for the English Nimbus in performances that were smart and stylish, and that set well with the composer's unique combination of high art, deep feeling, and good fun. If the performances are all as fine as this coupling of the Symphonies No. 97 and No. 102 with the Overture "L'anima del filosofo," the answer is yes.