Review: Haydn Symphonies and Quartets

Reviewed Work(s): 'Sturm und Drang' Symphonies by Joseph Haydn, Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment and Frans Brüggen; Quatuors opus 33 Nos.5, 3, 2 by Joseph Haydn and
Quatuor Mosaïques; Quatuors opus 33 Nos.1, 4, 6 by Joseph Haydn and Quatuor Mosaïques;
The Last Three String Quartets by Joseph Haydn and L'Archibudelli
Review by: Michael Spitzer
Source: Early Music, Vol. 27, No. 3, Laments (Aug., 1999), pp. 502-505
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3128668
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string-player (viola da gamba doubling on cello) joins the iniscent of the way Haydn was played before the authen-
organist and theorbist. To cope with the tuning problems ticity movement caught up with the Classical style.
R6nez uses no fewer than seven instruments. Her overall
Brtiggen brings out the full tone of the lower strings,
approach is neither as dramatic as Letzbor's nor as fiery asthough without prejudice to Haydn's characteristically
Reinhard Goebel's, but sensitive, and satisfying for all that.
wiry violin melodies and leanness of part-writing. As
For those with an interest in design, Winter & Winter's
might be expected, the sound-world is often dominated by
approach to packaging is innovative and very classy, but in
fruity wind sonorities, and the players acquit themselves
two-disc sets (as here) its open-package format tends to leave
the edge of the CDs precariously exposed, and the distinctivewith their customary virtuosity (see the horn solos in the
corrugated cardboard almost requires a protective casing ofAdagio of no.51 in Bk, or the flutter-tonguing in the finale).
its own. A shame, because the standard 'jewel-box' has longBut Briggen has a firm understanding of the form-build-
been one of my betes noires: cumbersome, unattractive, emi- ing role wind timbre plays in this music: of how Haydn
nently breakable and therefore practically useless when itrelies on intermittent pillars of sustained wind notes to
comes to travel. Anyone who comes up with a viable altern- support huge slow movements (see the horn pedals in the
ative (it can't be that difficult, surely?) should get an award. Adagio of no.43 in EB); of how wind lines often summarize
Fabrice Fitch
and guide the strings' voice-leading (see the interlocking
oboe suspensions in no.44 in E minor, bars 28-35); and of
how the occasionally pointillist wind entries can have a
Michael Spitzer motivic significance (horns and oboes in the opening of
no.46 in B). And yet Brtiggen manages to reconcile this
Haydn symphonies and quartets fullness of sound with both a nimble pace and an extraor-
dinary subtlety of articulation.
A new set of Haydn: 'Sturm und Drang' symphonies The 'Brtiggen balance' is most apparent in the interac-
(Philips 462 117-2, rec 1994-7), performed by the Orchestra tion of the driving quaver bass-lines (the most tell-tale
of the Age of Enlightenment under Frans Briggen, shouldreminder of Haydn's prevailing Baroque orientation) and
do for performance practice what James Webster's cele- the Empfindsamkeit melodies which flow against them.
brated book on the 'Farewell' Symphony did for scholar- These capture perfectly the 18th-century principle of
ship. Webster was able to force into long-overdue retire- expression as 'rhetorical accent'-a deviation from peri-
ment the condescending portrayal of these works asodic regularity. Just as Haydn criticism has tended to seize
immature precursors to the 'Paris' or 'London' sym-upon the demonic aspects of Sturm und Drang at the
phonies. His exhaustive analysis of Symphony no.45 in F#expense of its introspection or wit (the majority of the
minor and its sister works revealed a degree of sophistica-works are emphatically not in the minor), most historical
tion unmatched in the later symphonies, particularlyperformance has made far too much of its driving rhythms
regarding the breadth of Haydn's formal planning. Haydnand mechanical phraseology. It is essentially in the fluidity
knits together the separate movements of the 'Farewell' inof his interpretation that Briggen scores an advance over
a way which foreshadows 'cyclical' symphonies of the 19thprevious recordings, such as Pinnock's.
century, such as Beethoven's Fifth or Ninth. By demon- Clearly, I have nothing but praise for these perfor-
strating the essential breadth of the Sturm und Drang sym-mances, but it is worth detailing some of their many excel-
phonies, Webster directly confronts the crudely teleologi-lences across the domains of tempo choice, phrasing, and
cal reading of Haydn's career as a progression from thearticulation. For example, one of the most remarkable fea-
jerky 'stop-go' rhythms of the galant to the expansivenesstures of the 'Farewell' is that each of its five movements,
of the High Classical style. with the exception of the fourth, has a ternary time signa-
Whether or not Briiggen has read Webster's work,ture: 3/4, 3/8, 3/4, [2/2], 3/8. This might suggest a continu-
his interpretation of these 19 symphonies (nos.26, 35, ity of tempo across the first three movements, broken by
38-9, 41-52, 58-9, 65) certainly reflects its revisionist ethos. the 2/2 finale, and indeed this is precisely what Brtiggen
Braggen makes the symphonies sound big, yet, miracu-does. After a tempo of J = 160 in the opening Allegro, the
lously, without compromising a performance practice second-movement Adagio follows at a brisk J) = 120. Its
appropriate to the mid-18th century. His balancing act is3/8 time signature is often used by Haydn for fast move-
the most accomplished I have ever heard. The music is ments (typically finales) or Andantinos (such as no.42 in
performed on period instruments, yet with a warmth rem- D). Though somewhat slower than the first movement,

502 EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1999

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Braiggen's Adagio is still fast enough to suggest continuity. crotchets and a dotted minim. Rather than accenting the
Pinnock, whose first movement is also taken at J = 16o, first beat of bar 3 (the hypermetric midpoint of the
adopts J = 11o for his Adagio. This is admittedly not much phrase), he brings out the D of bar 4, creating a grouping
slower than Briiggen's, but the sense of continuity van- of 9/4 plus 3/4 (or three bars plus one). When the phrase
ishes. Conversely, Pinnock's minuet is faster than returns in the relative major at the start of the develop-
Briggen's- J = 170 to Briggen's 160. With Pinnock, the ment (bars 73-6), Briiggen reinterprets the grouping sym-
effect is of a dramatic return to order; in Briiggen's read- metrically. The B of its third bar (the midpoint of the
ing, the wrench comes with the fourth movement. Here, phrase) is not only accented; he cancels its staccato, plays it
the tempo is J = 145, less hectic than Pinnock's 16o. To be tenuto, and slurs it into the second beat. This carries for-
sure, the architecture of Pinnock's interpretation has the ward and assimilates the 2 + 2 phrase structure and legato
logic of symmetry, with the finale returning to the tempo articulation of the second group (bars 56-9) and codetta
of the opening Allegro. Nevertheless, Brtiggen's more (bars 69-72). Brfiggen thereby projects a broad drift from
dynamic conception, a general tactus encompassing the ternary to binary grouping, which matches the entire sym-
first three movements driving towards the finale, is ulti- phony's progression from triple to duple metre. In this
mately more persuasive. Paradoxically, the fact that the respect, the relapse in the fifth movement to triple metre is
finale neither follows on from the minuet nor rhymes with underscored by an extraordinary echo of the Allegro's
the first movement makes its impact more dramatic than original phrase structure: the 9/4 + 3/4 grouping in bars
technically faster performances. Brfiggen saves his 'rhyme' 1-4 of the Allegro foreshadow the triplet semiquavers of
for the famous Adagio coda (the fifth movement). With its the final Adagio, i.e. the 9/16 + 4/16 pattern at bars 2-4.
J) = 80, it is exactly half the speed of the opening Allegro. Briggen suggests that the coda of the 'Farewell' is as much
Although it shares a 3/8 time signature with the second a return as a transfiguration.
movement, it is taken considerably slower. The disparity Brtiggen's formal sense is even more apparent in the
between the two 3/8 Adagios beautifully illustrates the slow movements, whose rococo phrasing can easily sound
dependence of Classical tempo on material and context; short-breathed in the wrong hands. The Andantino e
the lack of any absolute connection between time signa- cantabile of no.42 is an excellent example, not least
ture, tempo designation and actual speed. because Koch's compositional treatise famously used it to
Overall, Brfiggen's tempos are less extreme than most illustrate how small phrases might be expanded into com-
period performances: his Adagios are faster and his finales plex periods. Haydn groups the quavers of his melody
are slower. The exception is his reading of 'La Passione' in threes; Brtiggen observes this, while subsuming the
(no.49 in F minor), whose opening Adagio is the slowest in grouping into a much broader cantilena. The passage at
the set and whose final Presto is the fastest. But even here, the end of the exposition, bars 53-69, is especially effective:
his tempo choices are motivated by material considera- Briiggen employs a beautiful chiaroscuro of dynamics and
tions. All four movements are based on a liturgical chant, a fine gradation of staccato, portato and legato articulation
and Brfiggen sets his speeds so that we can hear that one to communicate how Haydn's 17-bar phrase is essentially a
crotchet in the first movement chimes with two bars of the rhetorical inflection of an eight-bar model.
finale: both unfold the chant incipit C-Dk Whereas the Brfiggen can make Haydn's rococo textures sound
motif occupies four bars in the finale, it takes up only two broad because he grasps that, despite the surface activity,
in the Allegro di molto second movement; the second the music's underlying tonal rhythm is basically slow. The
movement is accordingly taken at half the speed of the hushed melody which opens the finale of no.47 in G flows
Presto, so that each bar corresponds to one Adagio for 18 bars with a single breath-a simple prolongation of
crotchet. the tonic. Though the tempo is Presto assai, the impres-
Brtiggen's tempo proportions help project Haydn's sion is of a sustained block of tonic harmony punctuated
symphonies as unified cycles. I don't wish to labour the at bar 19 with a forte orchestral fanfare. Haydn marks the
issue of tempo relationships, because the listener will be repeated crotchets in the lower strings 'portato', and the
more directly struck by the coherence of the individual on-the-string bow-strokes dissolve into pulsating pedals,
movements. In the Allegros, Haydn's repetitive rhythmic compounding a delicious effect of animated stasis. The
patterns might look mechanical, but Brtiggen modulates alternation of violin cantabile with tutti fanfare exempli-
them within an elaborate 'art of transition'. The opening fies Haydn's tendency in these works to compose with styl-
phrase of the 'Farewell' comprises three bars of staccato istically differentiated blocks. By characterizing Haydn's

EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1999 503

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stylistic topics so vividly, Brfiggen makes the music sound
rather Mozartean, as in the variegated mosaic which opens
no.51 in Bk As ever, he accommodates these contrasts
expertly into the overarching plan of the movement.
If I have a quibble, it is that Brtiggen's muscular control
can sometimes squeeze the humour out of these works:
when everything is explained, nothing can be a surprise.
The 'Mercury' Symphony, no.43 in Ek, is one of Haydn's
wittiest works. Yet, in this recording, the forte semiquaver
cascade which erupts at bar 26 is heard as a logical diminu-
tion of the quaver scale at bar 22 instead of the dramatic
coup it is supposed to be. In the finale the tomfoolery at the
end of the exposition (bar 49ff.) should sound hilarious.
The cadence is subverted by four mock-mysterious
chords; after a pregnant pause, the first violins enter with
profound bathos playing a fatuous flurry of quavers, swat-
ted by off-beat orchestral chords. But Briggen's pacing is
too studied to be funny. Very occasionally, his pacing can
be altogether intrusive, as in the ritenutos which he reads
into the opening of no.41 in C. When following Haydn's
marked fermatas, as in the first movement of no.48 in C,
bar 17, Brfiggen tends to slow down into them a little
heavy-handedly.
My most serious reservations concern the over-use here
of hairpin dynamics (messa di voce). Practically every note
has a swell or a bulge, with little attack. Admittedly, this
gives much of the string playing a beguilingly vocal qual-
ity, especially in the slow movements. But the messa di voce
should be used as sparingly as vibrato; it is odd that
Brfiggen relegates the latter to its original status as an
ornament to the same extent that he generalizes the for-
mer into almost a mannerism. The swells in the Adagio of
the 'Passione' sound more nauseous than expressive.
Haydn's dynamic markings are less detailed after 1770;
nevertheless, Briggen's extrapolations put us in mind of
Schubart's criticism of the Oettingen-Wallenstein orches-
tra for its pedantic excess of nuance. In other respects,
however, Brfiggen's fidelity to the score is punctilious, if
with the odd anomaly. For example, he makes the violins
play the quavers of the second subject of no.48 (bars 45-6)
staccato, whereas Landon's edition groups them in pairs
and Haydn's autograph slurs them in groups of four. I can
only imagine that Braiggen has taken a calculated decision
to regularize the second subject's articulation with that of
the bridge theme at bar 30, which is authentically staccato.
He abstains from adding any unmarked ornaments
(wesentliche Manieren). Most of Haydn's appoggiaturas
are interpreted as 'long' (veriinderliche Vorschlag), i.e. tak-
ing half the value of the main note, rather than the 'short'
504 EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1999
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grace-note variety. The two types are mixed to particularly
fetching effect in the Menuet of no.5o in C (bars 13-20,
49-56).
It remains to note that Briggen finds no room for the
harpsichord in his continuo group of cello, bass and bas-
soon. The question of the harpsichord in the mid-18th
century symphony is controversial (see James Webster,
'On the absence of keyboard continuo in Haydn's sym-
phonies', EM, xviii (1990), pp.599-608). Suffice it to say
that Brfiggen's sound is full enough for it not to be
missed. Altogether, then, I can recommend this box set
extremely highly, as much for its service to early Haydn as
for its cultivation of a new maturity in Classical perfor-
mance practice.
I turn now to Haydn's string quartets and to two
ensembles which could not be more different in their
style of playing. The Quatuor Mosaiques perform the six
quartets op.33 on two separate discs-Joseph Haydn:
Quatuors opus 33 nos.5, 3, 2 and Joseph Haydn: Quatuors
opus 33 nos.1, 4, 6 (Auvidis Astree 8569, 8570, rec 1995,
1996). L'Archibudelli's Haydn: The Last Three String
Quartets (Sony Classical SK 62731, rec 1996) joins the two-
movement torso of op.103 to the two op.77 quartets and,
with an inspired touch, concludes with a quartet transcrip-
tion of Haydn's partsong 'Der Greis'. Haydn had its words
('All my strength is at an end, I am old and weak') printed
as a visiting card. Both op.33 (1781) and op.77 (1799) are
watershed works. The former inaugurate a 'new and spe-
cial way' of integrating contrapuntal texture with the
modern popular style; the latter catches Beethoven's ven-
erable teacher learning some fresh tricks from his brasher
pupil. To a large extent the contrast between these two
ensembles is in keeping with the cultural shift between the
two opuses. Op.33 is quintessential chamber music, and it
is perfectly served by the sober tempos and restrained
expressive range of the Quatuor Mosa'ques. L'Archi-
budelli make a meal of the more public outlook of op.77,
with playing that evokes the extrovert gestures and varie-
gated colour of an orchestra.
The L'Archibudelli disk is a real diamond. Everything
about this theatrical yet polished performance compels
attention. The first movement of op.77 no.2 in F is particu-
larly impressive in its fusion of soloistic figuration and
tight musical logic. The appeal of L'Archibudelli is that
this fusion seems always on the verge of breakdown, just as
their theatricality is only a step or two away from the
meretricious. This sense of 'danger' is what is so signally
lacking in the Mosafques' otherwise distinguished record-
ings. The problem is epitomized, as so often in quartet
performance, in the handling of the cello part. The
Mosalques' cello is never allowed to draw attention from
the first violin, which is virtually the sole carrier of the nar-
rative thread. To be sure, compared with its later siblings,
the op.33 set foregrounds discourse over sonority. Yet the
repeated cello quavers in the first movement of no.5 in G,
played here as a discrete Baroque bass, should be
celebrated abrasively in their own right, as they are in
the finale of L'Archibudelli's op.77 no.2 (galvanized by
Beethovenian stabbing sforzatos). Nor is there anything
passive about the repeated bass crotchets which open
op.77 no.1 in G, which drive the march along relentlessly.
fray, ensuring that the 'line' is unbroken, yet masking
the more interesting material below. The Mosaiques have
produced a pair of fine disks, and their interpretation
is not without a certain flair, as in their deployment
of discrete ornamentation (e.g. the cadenza in op.33
no.6/ii, bar 45; the decorated repeat in the finale, bars
17ff.). Their reading is also au fait with the most recent
sources, as in the recuperation of the rustic glissandos
(missing from early editions) into the Trio of no.2 in Ek
(my thanks to David Wyn Jones for this observation).
However, with its sheer panache, L'Archibudelli is in a
different class.

If L'Archibudelli's Haydn thinks from the feet up, then
everything in the Mosaiques' performance depends from
the top voice. A characteristic instance of this is the second
group of op.33 no.6, bars 27-35. A semiquaver figure is
passed down the ranks, from first violin through to cello.
The Mosaiques resist the temptation to bring out the
dialogue, or to play into the figurations for the sake of
sonority. Instead, the first violin sails sedately above the
I want to close by lamenting the inadequacy of the
liner notes to all three sets, none of which gives any infor-
mation about the performances. The Briggen does not
even detail the make-up of the orchestra. It is a shame
that such pioneering ensembles do not share their histor-
ical awareness with the reader, given how little is written
about Classical performance practice from a scholarly or
theoretical perspective.

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EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1999 505

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