Am I actually going to listen to all 106 symphonies by Joseph Haydn? I’m not sure, but I started with Symphony No. 1 today.
From what I’ve gathered, this was written around 1757 when he was about 25 years old, serving as the personal musicmaker of a Bohemian aristocrat. I listened to the Philharmonia Hungarica version from the Complete Symphonies album on Apple Music. The whole thing was a little under 15 minutes. My cat sat on my lap about halfway through.
The opening movement (‘Presto’) had a few really strong moments of rising notes and the feeling of building toward an explosion — I think in the business they call it a “crescendo”? The second movement (‘Andante’) was like a brisk dance that periodically shifted to a minor key and did some big low notes; it had potential, but by minute 4 my mind was wandering. The third movement (‘Presto’ again) perked back up and finished strongly; it’s short and wild and had my favorite bit of the whole symphony, a cartoonish melody that it kept returning to, with notes that quickly scooted upward in pitch.
Out of 5 stars, I rate it 4.