D. Stephen Heersink writes concerning Fischer's Haydn series on Nimbus:

>But they are often hard to find, and Nimbus recordings in general suffer
>from poor engineering qualities.

I know that many folks don't think well of the Nimbus sound.  However,
I assume that Nimbus is well satisfied, and I certainly think highly of
their sound.  Some outstanding recordings of theirs concerning sound quality
are the Roberts/Beethoven series, chamber music from Zemlinsky, the Mozart
string quartets, and the Roberts set of Bach's WTC.  Please note that I
did not list any orchestral recordings; those are somewhat problematic.

Kevin Sutton wrote:

>Hogwood is over-rated and often downright dull IMHO.

I have found Hogwood to be one of the better period instrument orchestra
directors.  His Mozart symphony series is quite good as is his on-going
Mozart piano concerto series with Robert Levin.  His Bach disc of the
Peasant and Coffee cantatas is one of the best, and he's excellent in
Handel's Orlando.  I also have been very pleased with the Haydn opera he
recorded with Bartoli.  And as a soloist, he has one of the best sets of
Bach's French Suites.

I never have bought any of the sets in his Haydn symphony series, mainly
due to the short measure of playing time.  I think it's a semi rip-off,
given what the competition gives us as far as minutes per disc.  But, I'm
sure that if I was a Haydn "nut", I'd be snapping them up.

When I was living in Louisville in the 1980's, Hogwood came to town with
a chamber ensemble and Lynne Dawson.  Their concert was fabulous; I don't
even remember feeling trapped or restricted.  Dawson had much to do with
that - heavenly voice and fine physical features had me glued to my seat.
So, not only is Hogwood one of the excellent artists for Baroque and
Classical music, he also well knows how to pick female vocal soloists.
That's a lot more than I can say about other conductors such as Suzuki
and Gardiner whose female soloist selections leave much to be desired.

Don Satz
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