Haydn The London 71

The calling card here is the use of an Amsterdam edition of Haydn's Op. 33 string quartets that reverses the order of some of the inner movements. It's never made clear why this edition should get priority over the dozens of others that circulated around Europe, with and without Haydn's consent, but so be it; there are some tempo novelties here that shed some light on how Haydn's music was received, at least in some quarters. There the good news ends.

Though he had already produced works he called "diverimenti a Quattro" in his Opus 1 and 2, Haydn only really got serious about the string quartet genre 10 years later with his Opus 9, 17, and 20. The earlier works had been five movement, serenade-like pieces, but starting with Opus 9 the composer favored four-movement, sonata-form works that were lyric, dramatic, cogent, and entertaining and they became the model for all subsequent quartets.

These must be the least well known of Haydn’s later quartets, poorly represented over the years in recital programmes and on disc, yet they show Haydn at the height of his powers. When he first came to London in 1791 his string quartets proved popular items in his public concerts; back in Vienna preparing for his second London visit, he designed these new works especially for public performance, with attention-grabbing opening gestures and brilliant concertante writing for all four instruments. The set’s third quartet is particularly strong – the far-reaching developments of its first movement’s main theme remind one of the great Salomon symphonies, as does the picturesque Andante with variations.