Europe, a Prophecy by William Blake (Wikipedia)

This August, Haydn Society of Great Britain Director Denis McCaldin travelled to Eisenstadt to take part in a symposium. Professor McCaldin writes:

“‘Haydn & the Creation – origin and reception history’ was the title of a two-day symposium sponsored by the International Joseph Haydn Private Foundation Eisenstadt (www.haydnfestival.at) and held there on the 28-29th August this year.

Convened by its director Dr Walter Reicher, talks ranged from a survey of some 23 CD recordings, dating back to one conducted by Clemens Kraus in 1943 (Eva Stockler), to technical comment on the famous ‘Representation of Chaos’ (Denis McCaldin and Tibor Nemeth) and the Jewish perspective of the work (Caryl Clark).

The symposium ended with a roundtable discussion about the continuing neglect of Haydn’s work by the music-loving public.”

We were pleased to read that Sir Simon Rattle opened the new season at the Berlin Philharmonie on 25 August with a performance of Haydn’s The Creation. It is possible to catch up with the broadcast of this performance via this link.