I know of no work so certain to raise the spirits than Die Jahreszeiten (''The Seasons'') unless it be the same composer's Die Schopfung (''The Creation''). Quite apart from pleasure at hearing such apt setting of words there is renewed amazement that such an eiderly composer could summon up such a fund of invention, but then one thinks of Verdi and Tippett, and remember that old age has more than once produced an Indian summer of creative activity. This performance of Haydn's last choral masterpiece, though it has appreciable drawbacks, renews one's admiration and love for its evocation, in four 'cantatas', of the seasons' moods and activities.
This performance was available as a Haydn Society issue in the early days of LP (though not here), and more recently on Preiser LPs. Krauss and his Vienna forces, even within the restrictions of wartime Austria, enter into the spirit of the piece as to the manner born. The choral singing has verve, the orchestral playing vigour moderated by sensitivity. Krauss encompasses with equal facility the adumbration of natural phenomena and the eloquence of the human feelings evoked by the different seasons' characters. I like particularly the drowsiness brought on by summer's languid weather and the splendid brio of the hunting folk in the tremendous chorus, ''Hort! hort das laute Geton'' in ''Autumn'', with the right rustic sound from the horns. Unfortunately Krauss makes a few minor cuts. Then the sound though in general giving plenty of space and atmosphere to the choir and orchestra, lacks stereo spread and just occasionally distorts, though never distressingly so. Few choral recordings of this period have such presence and immediacy.
The chief blessing in the solo singing is Patzak's Lukas. Once more he shows his skill in inflecting words and finding just the right expressive emphasis, especially in the vivid description of winter's snowbound stillness in Part 4 (''Winter'') followed by Haydn's presaging of Winterreise. In the aria, ''Hier steht der Wanderer nun'', with its strange harmonies, Patzak suggests anguish with his plangent tones, then joy as the weary traveller, unlike Schubert's, finds a welcome door—''vor Freude pocht der Herz'' (''with joy his heart is thrilled'') is wonderfully vivid. Earlier he is most moving in the recitative at the start of ''Summer'' and in the heavy-laden air ''Dem Druck erleigt die Natur'' (''Distressful Nature''). Eipperle is the smiling, articulate soprano, never special in her insights but mostly pleasing to hear: her voice sometimes catches the microphone uncomfortably and her runs are occasionally uneven. Georg Hann is the rough-and-ready bass, finding his best form in the sad, valedictory recitative that begins ''Winter'', following on Krauss's and the VPO's inward account of the Bach-like prelude to this concluding movement. He also points up the intimations of mortality in Simon's—and Haydn's concluding homily.
So I greatly enjoyed this performance. However, I do feel such a historical issue could well be offered at mid price and that more adequate notes—and a text should be included, with some information about the provenance of the performance and biographies of the singers.'