The News Letter of Adam Fischer & Haydn Orchestra Fan Club
'Barátom' means 'My Friend' in Hungarian

May 1, 2000 - No. 27

Haydn's "The Seasons" and Beethoven's Choral Symphony - the Haydn Orchestra's introduction to 2000

Although the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra was founded for the Haydn Festival, they have 3 concerts at the Haydnsaal in addition to regular festival appearance. The first performance was on March 12 with Beethoven's "Choral" Symphony. Johannes Chum, who was Linardo in last year's Opera "Armida" and Wolfgang Bankl, who often sings with the Haydn Orchestra were among the soloists.

Three weeks after the "Choral" symphony, there was the biggest event in spring 2000, Appearances in Vienna and Budapest with Hydn's Oratorio "The Seasons". This performance was included in the Choral Subscription series of the Wien Konzerthaus, as well as Budapest Spring Festival and Oratorio 2000 series in Eisenstadt.

The chorus in these performances was sang by the Wiener Singakademie, one of the oldest Choirs in Europe, founded in 1854. Ever since it was built in 1913, the Wiener Singakademie has been the resident choir of the Vienna Konzerthaus. The choir has a wide variety of the repertoire; from Oratorios by Bach and Handel to contemporary works of the 20th century; and performed with historical maestros like Mahler, Furtwaenglar, Richard Strauss, as well as famous conductors of today like Abbado, Rattle, Norrington etc.

The rehearsals of this production started on March 28. A big work like "The Seasons" requires several rehearsals with smaller sections. On the first day there was a string rehearsal and a chorus rehearsal accompanied by piano. Compared to "The Creation", "The seasons" is rarely played and choir does not have much experience. Adam Fischer asked them firly to sing "Komm, holder Lenz" to express the first sign of the spring. The next evening, following the rehearsal with orchestra and soloists, there was the first rehearsal with Orchestra and Choir. Although the choir sometimes did not respond to Adam's dynamic tempo rubato, overall the orchestra and choir played together almost perfectly even in their first joint rehearsal.

Next day, March 30 was the final day. The dress rehearsal started in the evening at the Konzerthaus. All the musicians including extra horn and percussion players attended the rehearsal. Adam Fischer added a Cymbal to the percussion section, played by Mihály Kaszás, who is regular percussion player of Haydn Orchestra. Just as at the performance in the Haydntage '93, his son Mihály Jr. played Tambourine. In this production, the orchestra honored the fan club president Sayuri Oshima with the Triangle part.

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Successful Performances in Vienna and Budapest

March 31 was the first performance in Budapest. The Budapest Spring Festival is the biggest music festival in Hungary, held every March. Among other acclaimed performances, The Haydn Orchestra's concert was very popular and sold out well in advance. Reflecting the international popularity of Adam Fischer, there were many foreign tourists in the concert hall, even from Japan.

When performance started, following the orchestra introduction describing dark cold winter, Bass Olaf Baer, Tenor Herbert Lippert and Soprano Malin Hartelius sang Recitative, then the Wiener Singagademie's chorus of the beginning of spring. The nervous choir could not start like Adam Fischer wanted, however, as the piece Progressed, they relaxed and got better. At the end of "spring" with the slow Maestoso, the choir and orchestra performed the dynamic conclusion of part one.

Part two "summer" has much dynamic choral work like "Sun rise" or "Storm". Not Just in these scenes, Adam Fischer paid special attention to create Haydn's sound. For instance, he used traditional wooden mutes in Lucas's Cavatine
After the intermission, "autumn" is the highlight of Adam Fischer' Seasons. With 8 horns on the stage, up in the gallery, and in the auditorium, he created the real atmosphere of hunting in the Konzerthaus. The finale that followed was very lively. The joyful choir expressed the pleasure of Wine and Dance.

"Winter" includes the aria of wandering tourists and lied by Hanne and village people. The oratorio ends with the dynamic chorus praising God for the coming spring. When the performance was concluded, all the audience stood up to applaud. Adam Fischer let not only the soloists, but choir and orchestras solo players stand and praised their wonderful performance.

The next day was the performance in Vienna. Although soloists made some minor mistakes, choir and orchestra concentrated more and the general performance was even better than first one. This performance will be broadcasted by Austrian Radio on May 1,2000. In addition, because of the success of this production, famous summer music festival, Proms in London decided to invite Haydn Orchestra in 2001. Perhaps, Haydn Orchestra appears in London Proms again next year.

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German, Hungarian Mini Lesson

From this issue, the useful conversations for shopping.

When does .... open /close?

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Editorial Note

The program of Haydntage 2000 was published recently. It starts on September 7 and ends on the 17th. Adam Fischer and Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra appear at 4 opera performances on 7,9,12,14 and final matinee on 17. It is a pity that they have fewer performances than usual. Basically, Adam and the Haydn Orchestra started the festival in 1987. It is very strange that regardless of the success of the festival itself, appearances by the Haydn Orchestra are decreasing. They have three performances this year not included in the festival; however, that is fewer performance than in 1987. In order to maintain the quality of the orchestra, it is very essential to have the place where they perform regularly. We expect Haydnfestspiele and city of Eisenstadt to support the Haydn Orchestra providing them a real "Home".

Next issue, we will report on Zurich Opera's "Cenerentola" with Cecilia Bartoli, which we could not include in this issue because of space, and Adam Fischer's Los Angeles Philharmonic appearance.

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