Haydn Divertimento

Only a relatively small proportion of Haydn's works are present in today's concert repertoire. While every compositional exercise by other composers, no matter how insignificant, has been catalogued, it is extremely difficult to get an overview of the enormous oeuvre of the father of Viennese classical music. Haydn's long life certainly plays a role in this: born in the High Baroque period, he experienced the zenith of the Classical period and still touched on the beginnings of Romanticism in his old age. The scoring with two violins instead of the more usual violin and viola has certainly also contributed to the fact that a chamber music collection that is particularly attractive in many respects has remained almost completely unknown until now.

This is Volume 4 in Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s project to record the complete piano sonatas of Haydn. The last volume in the series (CHAN10689) was a Critic’s Choice in Gramophone, an Instrumental Choice in the magazine BBC Music, Editor’s Choice in the magazine Classic FM, and Recording of the Month in MusicWeb International. In the words of Bavouzet himself: ‘Each volume of this ambitious, extended project will arrive over the years like a postcard, dispatched during my travels with scant respect for chronological considerations, but undertaken with the greatest passion for trying to convey as vividly as possible to twenty-first-century ears the boundless treasures of this sublime music.’

f you thought Mozart’s Salzburg serenades were big works, then check out this extravaganza in nine movements, lasting just about an hour. Composed in 1764 and scored for everything but the kitchen sink, the work includes an opening march, two minuets, and major concerto movements for solo clarinet and solo trombone (yes, I did say trombone). Both are often performed separately. Michael Haydn’s proto-classical style is, as you might expect, graceful, tuneful, and easy on the ear, and if you are familiar with any of the other releases from Klöcker and his Prague forces, then you know that you can expect lively, elegant music-making (and some terrific clarinet playing).

Trio Stadtlmann is a Japanese trio formed and active in Switzerland, featuring the world's rarest stringed instrument, the baritone. Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the Trio Stadtlmann released their first recorded work with the cooperation of Tokyo Zoshigaya Haiobun-tei, which has been conducting a project to perform Haydn's complete baritone trio works. It also includes the only quintet in existence that includes two horns!

The Penguin Guide (a classical cd review bible) gave this recording three stars, their highest rating. I agree (and was actually suprised to find that they had reviewed it). It has perfect sound and the performance is clean and lively and just-right sounding in terms of pacing and character. These are the earliest works Haydn composed (when he was 25), and they are full of creative melody and unique turns of phrase (and the classical music equivalent of 'hooks'), and also long, beautiful (often minor key) slow movements often reaching to and beyond 9 and 10 minutes in length.

Mozart did not know how quickly to get out of Salzburg once he developed his own ambitions, but Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806) apparently had a great time there. Joseph Haydn's little brother learned music as a choirboy in Vienna, worked for several years in Großwarden and Bratislava before settling in Salzburg in 1762. He stayed there until his death. In the correspondence of the Mozart family, Michael Haydn does not come off well; he is portrayed as a lazy figure who regularly looks too deep into the glass. However, excessive alcohol consumption has not stopped him from writing an extensive oeuvre of church music, operas and instrumental music in all genres.

Die Symphonien zeigen einen unverwechselbaren und lebendigen Einfallsreichtum, reizvoll wie bei seinem Bruder Joseph, jedoch in ganz anderer Weise. Vergleiche sind unvermeidlich. Michaels zehn erste Symphonien (c. 1761-c. 1765) sind konzentrierter in der Sprache und zeigen eine größere Formvielfalt als die Josephs (1757-60) und sind weit interessanter als Mozarts von 1764-68. Die erste Symphonie ist ein glanzvolles Stück mit Oboen, Trompeten, Hörnern & Schlagzeug. Der treibende erste Satz zeigt unerwartete harmonische Wendungen, während das Andante wunderbar melodisch ist über einem rhythmischem Puls, was geradezu ein Markenzeichen der Musik Michael Haydns ist. Das Menuett kommt kraftvoll und lebhaft, das Finale hat wunderbaren Schwung.