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THE AMADEUS QUARTET RECORDINGS VOL. VI HAYDN Berlin, 1950-1969 AMADEUS QUARTET violin I Norbert Brainin violin II Siegmund Nissel viola Peter Schidlof cello Martin Lovett JOSEPH HAYDN String Quartet in G major, Op. 9/3, Hob. III:21 I. Moderato 2:49 II. Menuet. Allegretto 2:27 III. Largo 6:20 IV. Finale. Presto 2:44 recording date: 15.12.1952 String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20/5, Hob. III:35 I. Allegro moderato 5:12 II. Menuet 5:19 III. Adagio 5:57 IV. Finale. Fuga a due Soggetti 3:03 recording date: 25.5.1952 String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 33/2, Hob. III:38 ‘The Joke’ I. Allegro moderato 5:50 II. Scherzo 3:28 III. Largo e sostenuto 5:36 IV. Finale 3:35 recording date: 20.11.1951 String Quartet in C major, Op. 54/2, Hob. III:57 I. Vivace 5:29 II. Adagio 3:19 III. Menuet. Allegretto 3:36 IV. Finale. Adagio – Presto – Adagio 6:02 recording date: 18.11.1969 String Quartet in C major, Op. 54/2, Hob. III:57 II. Adagio 3:40 recording date: 10.6.1950 String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 64/3, Hob. III:67 I. Vivace assai 4:16 II. Adagio 5:45 III. Menuetto. Allegretto 4:05 IV. Finale. Allegro con spirito 3:50 recording date: 8.2.1956 String Quartet in G major, Op. 64/4, Hob. III:66 I. Allegro con brio 3:31 II. Menuetto. Allegretto 2:56 III. Adagio. Cantabile e sostenuto 5:00 IV. Finale. Presto 3:28 recording date: 10.12.1959 String Quartet in C major, Op. 74/1, Hob. III:72 I. Allegro (moderato) 6:37 II. Andantino (grazioso) 5:42 III. Menuet. Allegro 4:05 IV. Finale. Vivace 3:46 recording date: 19.11.1951 String Quartet in G minor, Op. 74/3, Hob. III:74 ‘The Rider’ I. Allegro non troppo 3:44 II. Largo assai 6:29 III. Menuet. Allegretto 3:29 IV. Finale. Allegro con brio 4:22 recording date: 29.11.1957 String Quartet in G major, Op. 76/1, Hob. III:75 I. Allegro con spirito 4:19 II. Adagio sostenuto 6:43 III. Menuet. Presto 2:24 IV. Finale. Allegro ma non troppo 4:27 recording date: 8.12.1960 String Quartet in C major, Op. 76/3, Hob. III:77 ‘Emperor’ I. Allegro 5:07 II. Poco Adagio. Cantabile – Variation I-IV 7:34 III. Menuet. Allegro 4:40 IV. Finale. Presto 4:13 recording date: 24.4.1951 String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76/4, Hob. III:78 ‘The Sunrise’ I. Allegro con spirito 6:02 II. Adagio 5:51 III. Menuet. Allegro 4:06 IV. Finale. Allegro ma non troppo 4:22 recording date: 25.5.1952 String Quartet in G major, Op. 77/1, Hob. III:81 I. Allegro moderato 7:32 II. Adagio 5:51 III. Menuet. Presto 3:59 IV. Finale. Presto 4:04 recording date: 2.2.1969 String Quartet in F major, Op. 77/2, Hob. III:82 I. Allegro moderato 7:22 II. Menuet. Presto ma non troppo 4:19 III. Andante 7:14 IV. Finale. Vivace assai 5:32 recording date: 30.10.1950 String Quartet in D minor, Op. 103, Hob. III:83 (unfinished) I. Andante grazioso 5:19 II. Menuetto ma non troppo Presto 5:19 recording date: 25.5.1952 The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, Op. 51, Hob. III:50-56 Introduzione. Maestoso ed Adagio 5:25 Sonata 1. Largo 7:27 Sonata 2. Grave e cantabile 6:00 Sonata 3. Grave 7:03 Sonata 4. Largo 5:26 Sonata 5. Adagio 6:11 Sonata 6. Lento 5:16 Sonata 7. Largo 6:28 Il Terremoto. Presto e con tutta la forza 1:43 recording date: 15.12.1952 “Playing Haydn is like walking a tightrope: one can hear the fleas cough” It may be an oft-cited platitude that Joseph Haydn’s string quartets are loved by musicians, but respected by audiences. However, it is also true that ingrained listening habits – from a perspective which has itself become historic – as well as Haydn’s historical position between the late Baroque period and the heyday of Viennese Classicism form an awkward alliance. Even if the problematic reception of the nineteenth century stood in the way of a “genuine” Haydn image, this much is certain: such findings should be seen within an up-to-date, re-appraised context, detached from the musical content of Haydn’s music, for Haydn’s music has been undergoing a renaissance in recent years. Peter Schidlof, the violist of the Amadeus Quartet, came straight to the point during a conversation with the German newspaper Die Welt on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Haydn’s death in 1982: “We never tire of the Haydn quartets. And the audience think they are nothing special at all.” Siegmund Nissel, the second violinist, expanded on his colleague’s comment: “Haydn was so inventive! You often hear that claim that if one knows one Haydn quartet, one knows all of them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite the enormous oeuvre of eighty-two quartets, each work has its own little per- sonality. Haydn never repeats himself. In each piece at a certain point he experiments with new inventions.” Similar assessments are recorded by numerous musicians, including Walter Levin, the leader of the LaSalle Quartet, in conversation with Robert Spruytenburg: “The Haydn quartets are an absolute basis for quartet playing.” This implies not only the historical perspective, but also the technical aspect – in relation to both the professional musician and the amateur. Martin Lovett, the cellist of the Amadeus Quartet, confirmed this in a conversation with students from a Berlin upper school broadcast by RIAS in 1970: “Rehearsing new works requires a lot of effort. You can play a Haydn quartet for pleasure, but not one by Lutos lawski. Even Bartók can’t be sight- read.” In the conversation with Die Welt, he differentiated: “It is a mistake to think that Mozart and Haydn are easier than the Romantics, just because they often sweep along. I find Haydn more difficult.” And Norbert Brainin: “Everything that one plays in public is difficult. And the easier it is, the more difficult it becomes, as one then hears the fleas cough. Haydn and Mozart are a tightrope act.” With the exception of a few specialised ensembles (for instance in New Music), Haydn’s string quartets continue to represent the core repertoire of nearly all quartets. In concert programmes, they often appear at the start, which has earned them, as well as other instrumental works by Haydn, the reputation of being warm-up repertoire. In recent years, however, his music has started to undergo a reassessment; young ensembles, trained in historically informed performance practice, often place Haydn at the centre of their programmes. The seemingly easy accessibility of Haydn’s music paradoxically also hampers and veils the recognition of what lies beneath the sonic surface, since at times Haydn was, and still is, reproached for a lack of “depth”. But these quartets are chamber music in more senses than one: in the exceptional case of four performers playing without an audience, players and listeners are one and the same. Corresponding to the societal upheavals at the end of the eighteenth century, listening habits and music perception also changed. Haydn’s employers, until his first journey to London in 1790, had been aristocrats. The occasion for writing the first String Quartets, Opp. 1 and 2, had arisen due to coincidence: Baron Karl Joseph Weber von Fürnberg, who commissioned the pieces, happened to have four players of these instruments (i.e. two violins, one viola, one cello) at his disposal. The pieces which Haydn composed during his first productive decade, from the mid to late 1750s, for the most part had five movements; he called them Divertimento, Cassation or Notturno. They were intended to entertain, and often written for open air performances. The predominantly aristocratic audience expected to be diverted by this music: it had to compete with other forms of entertainment. In his sets of usually six quartets, Haydn experimented with the disposition of movements and keys, use of baroque (polyphonic) forms and other devices. It was not until the String Quartets Op. 33, written in 1781, almost twenty-five years after the first Divertimenti Op. 1, that Haydn had reached a new compositional level, as he explained himself: “they [the String Quartets Op. 33] are written in an entirely new, special style, for I have not written any for ten years.” Alongside the thematic work, now frequently employed, developing motifs through all four parts, he also returned to catchy, folk-like and song-like themes. What started slowly to emerge was what Charles Rosen called “The Classical Style”. Novelty, intellectual depth, but also humour and wit were the characteristics which contemporaries identified as criteria for the great success of this quartet series. However, the pinnacles in Haydn’s quartet oeuvre are doubtless the six Op. 76 Quartets (the Erdödy Quartets) and the two Lobkowicz Quartets, Op. 77, composed around 1797 and 1799 respectively. During the course of approximately forty-five years between Haydn’s first and last string quartets, a new audience had emerged: the educated (enlightened) bourgeoisie whose self-conception included creating their own listening spaces – concert halls which were not reserved for the nobility. Listening to music was no longer mere entertainment, but a counter-value was demanded in the form of admission fees.