Haydn's Haus

[Karl Henning]

Watching In Search of Haydn again this evening.

[Gurn Blanston]

Watching In Search of Haydn again this evening.

Nice call. I should be; I'm working on my notes instead.

[The new erato]

Re: Scale of output and recordings available -

I am often surprised at the number of posts on GMG where people have sufficient aural memory to recall and compare different recordings of the same work and declare fairly confidently one better than another, or say something like, "there's 11 others I like better". 

Not only am I not interested in comparing recordings, that seems too much like a sporting event approach, but I would not feel comfortable doing it.  It is so subjective that one person's (my) delight might be some else's bane.  It is very hard for me to suggest one recording over another one since I tend to like them all for some reason and enjoy hearing any one of them.  Say, e.g. Haydn symphonies - just about any recording is fine by me, except a conductor who brings a big-19th C.-orchestra approach to the music.  Same for all classical era music. 

I can tell someone what I like about a recording, but it has to be near in time to when I've heard it.  But I can't compare it to another one unless I were to sit down right then and listen to them side by side, movement by movement - and I have zero interest in doing that kind of work.

My solution is to not worry about any of that stuff and put on a recording and sit back and enjoy it.  Okay, I admit it, I don't aspire to write CD reviews.  I can live with that.

Yes, I could have written that as well.

[Karl Henning]

Well, and I am re-motivated to do something about all these Fischer symphonies discs to which I've not yet listened!

One stage of this is now complete: I've all of them loaded onto the external HD now!

[Karl Henning]

Watching In Search of Haydn again this evening.

It being a weeknight and all, I hit pause just at the start of the Opera Period,.

So far the interviews are reinforcing my initial impressions, and gainsaying eyeresist's snark. To be sure, Manny Ax obviously forgets who brought him to the dance, and he winds up both jabbering about WAM and LvB more, and playing a substantial (and largely irrelevant) passage from a WAM pf concerto, where the best he can do for "Papa" is the coyly underprepared, "Well, virtually any of the sonata movements . . . ."

But Rousset, Baudet, Norrington, Hamelin (for only four instant examples) have their attention entirely on "Papa". eyeresist must have been half-asleep while viewing ; )

[Wakefield]

.[asin]B00290FVO4[/asin]



When I saw this disc advertised some years ago, I wasn't interested. Maybe it was an error: 

J. Haydn - Piano Concerto No. 11 in D major, Hob XVIII:11 (de Maistre, ORF Symphony) , arranged for harp by Xavier de Maistre

http://www.youtube.com/v/LTMvOE2eEjs
Xavier de Maistre, harp
ORF Radiosinfonieorchester Wien
Bertrand de Billy, conductor

Recorded at Schloss Esterházy, Eisenstadt, 2009

[Gurn Blanston]

This time I would like to take a brief look at the history of Haydn's organ concertos, and also at a few recordings that some of you may be interested in.

It is hard to know what each person's expectations are concerning this genre. When many of us think of 'keyboard concerto', it is something like Mozart 21 or Beethoven 2 or any of dozens of others. Big, powerful pieces of music designed to stand alone as the highlight of an evening at a concert or in the comfort of our listening rooms. If that is your only conception of a concerto, then you will either be surprised or disappointed with these works. By and large, that is not what they are! Of the works listed in the table below, virtually all of them started out life as adjunct church music. They achieved a certain level of popularity, to the point that a few years after their composition Haydn was able to have them published. At that time, he (or the publisher) added 'o gravicembalo' to the 'per organo' line in order to increase saleability. And indeed, copies exist from all over central Europe of most of them.

Year   Hob 18 #   Key   Instruments   Notes
1753   2   D   Organ or Harpsichord, Strings & BC   (2 Oboes, 2 Trumpets and Timpani optional)
1753   5   C   Organ or Harpsichord, Strings & BC   (2 Oboes, 2 Trumpets and Timpani optional)
1753   8   C   Organ or Harpsichord, Strings & BC   (2 Trumpets and Timpani optional)
1753   10   C   Organ or Harpsichord, Strings & BC
1756   1   C   Organ or Harpsichord, 2 Oboes & Strings    (2 Trumpets and Timpani optional)
1756   6   F   Organ or Harpsichord, Solo Violin & Strings
Before 1766   7   G   Organ or Harpsichord, Strings & BC   Considered authentic by some but not by others –
                                arr. of Hob 15:40 (in F)    (by unk)
Before 1766   9   F   Organ or Harpsichord, Strings & BC   Considered authentic by some but not by others

In the mid-1750's, Haydn was supporting himself by playing the violin or the organ, or singing in a regular daily round of church functions in Vienna. As we talked about in other places, the Viennese Mass commonly included a concerto or symphony, or even a 'church sonata', depending upon the importance of the day in the Liturgical Calendar. The need to exercise his compositional skills, and to provide himself with works to play in Mass was probably the driving force behind the production of these works.

It is now a given that the concerto was a struggle for the Viennese. Not just Haydn, but all Viennese composers seemed hard pressed to bring forth works that combined the traditional concerto form, which proved nearly immutable, with the emerging taste for what would be retrospectively known as 'sonata form'. While it is no major concession to say that Haydn's early concertos were not up to the same standards as his later works, the flip side of the equation shows that they were as good as any concertos written in that time period. Not better than most, but not worse either. The language had not been invented yet which would free concerto form from the Baroque into the Classical. In fact, it proved to be one of the most intractable forms to evolve. Pre-1770, very few concertos were significantly different from those composed by Vivaldi and Tartini. Not that there weren't some brilliant exceptions, such as Haydn's own Cello Concerto in C from 1763ish.

In looking down the list of works, the first thing I notice is that the possibility exists that the word 'strings' in the accompaniment group can be deceptive. In all cases, 'strings' here means Violin I, Violin II and basso. Basso can be either cello, double bass or violone. Since all extant copies are marked generically as 'keyboard' (clavier) the solo instrument must be inferred as an organ by internal evidence. An organ is the only instrument of that time with the range to effectively play it.

And on the subject of organs, it is well to note that Austria was NOT the home of the organ art. That would have been northern Germany (as we call the area today). Haydn had access to small, medium and large organs. The small ones had 2 manuals and no pedals. These were found in private chapels, such as the one that he played in daily in 1756 & early 1757 at the home of Count Haugwitz in Vienna and later at the Vienna home of the Esterhazy's. The medium size organ would have also had 2 manuals, but a short octave pedal board. His daily job in Leopoldstadt at the Church of the Barmherzige Brüder involved just such an organ. It was not until many years later that he finally had a go at a large organ, but that doesn't figure into these works at all, it was possibly used as early as the Grosseorgelsolomesse in 1768 at Esterházy Palace. Still, the idea that any of these instruments were on the scale of German organs needs to be dismissed. Why is that important? Well, for one thing it puts ones expectations into scale, and secondly, the music itself is written in such a way as to take advantage of the sustaining capabilities of the instrument and the rapid decay of sound.

Versions I have to talk about;

Schornsheim performs all the known authentic keyboard concerti. The ones she does on the organ are 1, 8 & 10.



Ghielmi plays #2, 6 & 10. In a classic typo, Hob XVIII is called XVII except for in #6.   




Holzapfel on Brilliant plays #1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 &10. His is possibly the most complete set since he includes #7. More on that later.



On this Challenge Classics disk recorded in 2009, is Koopman's second go at some of these on organ, and third if you count cembalo! Here he performs #1, 2 & 6.


This is Koopman's first essay into the organ concertos. I finally found a reasonably priced copy of it (it was 2-3X more 2 years ago! ) and it is headed my way even now. I am quite interested in hearing how he changed over the 19 years that separates these 2 recordings. Since they say "The 6 Organ Concertos", I will for now go with 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 & 10. I will certainly post a follow-up to this essay when I have it in hand, though!



Haselböck & his band, Divertimento Salzburg, have 2 disks on Orfeo with organ concerti. This one has #2, 7 & 8.


While this one contains #6 & 10 as well as some lovely divertimentos. Pity there isn't a third disk with 1 & 5 on it...


And the final disk I have contains only 1 organ concerto, #1;

Although I bought this disk for the 2 wind concertos, the organ concerto is quite formidable also.

Next I will discuss the individual works and the recordings.

Thanks for your interest, please feel free to comment and correct or even ask questions.
End of Part 1

[kishnevi]

Gurn, I thought you had the Naxos box of concertos (although they are MI performances)?

They do 1, 8 and 10 on organ--same as Schornsheim --although it's been long enough since I played them that I don't really remember how the performances sounded.

BTW, if you don't have it, I would suggest getting it, if only for the violin and 'cello concertos.

[Gurn Blanston]

Gurn, I thought you had the Naxos box of concertos (although they are MI performances)?

They do 1, 8 and 10 on organ--same as Schornsheim --although it's been long enough since I played them that I don't really remember how the performances sounded.

BTW, if you don't have it, I would suggest getting it, if only for the violin and 'cello concertos.

Jeffrey,
Well, as odd as it may seem, there are actually some Haydn recordings that I don't have!   Through no fault of my own, of course. 0:)   Once I realized the impossibility of that particular ambition, I narrowed down to getting all the PI recordings that I could find. I do, in fact, have a lot of MI recordings, some of them excellent, but conquering that field is beyond my means!   

I invite you to spin up your disks though and see how they have treated the organ concertos. I suspect that like all of Haydn's works, they can do quite well under a range of treatments. They are interesting works to get to know, actually.

[SonicMan46]

Hi Gurn - thanks for the extensive and well done essay on the Haydn Organ/KB Concerti; usually don't think of the organ w/ Papa Joe but the guy did write a LOT of music over a long period of time and had to make a living in those years, especially the early ones!

Now, I do own the 2-disc set of the Schornsheim recordings, and also a single CD of Brautigam on FP doing 4 of these works (Hob. XVIII/2, 3, 4, 11), but that is it!  So might want to get one or several discs that are organ-centric! 

I'll look forward to your further discussion, particularly of the many recordings you showed to see which ones may tweak my interest and are your favorites - Dave

[Gurn Blanston]

Hi Gurn - thanks for the extensive and well done essay on the Haydn Organ/KB Concerti; usually don't think of the organ w/ Papa Joe but the guy did write a LOT of music over a long period of time and had to make a living in those years, especially the early ones!

Now, I do own the 2-disc set of the Schornsheim recordings, and also a single CD of Brautigam on FP doing 4 of these works (Hob. XVIII/2, 3, 4, 11), but that is it!  So might want to get one or several discs that are organ-centric! 

I'll look forward to your further discussion, particularly of the many recordings you showed to see which ones may tweak my interest and are your favorites - Dave

Thanks, Dave. Working on Part 2 now, in fact.

Between Schornsheim and Brautigam you have the KB concerti pretty much covered! I haven't addressed 3, 4 & 11 here at all, obviously because they are certainly intended for other types of keyboard.  What those types might be could well be the subject of a whole essay!

One thing I like about doing these essays is that I will now sit down with several recordings of each of these works and attempt to analyze them a bit, and on the other side I will have learned a lot more about them than I know right now. So the biggest benefit accrues to me, but I hope everyone gets something from it.

[SonicMan46]

........
One thing I like about doing these essays is that I will now sit down with several recordings of each of these works and attempt to analyze them a bit, and on the other side I will have learned a lot more about them than I know right now. So the biggest benefit accrues to me, but I hope everyone gets something from it.

Understand that last statement well - over a 3+ decade career in academic radiology, I put together a LOT of lectures (most PowerPoint presentations about 40-50 minutes long) - these were all well received by my audiences, whether residents or larger ones @ meetings - taught them a lot but putting those together always gave me the MOST knowledge on the topic(s) - Dave 

[Gurn Blanston]

Part 2
Concertos 2, 5, 8 & 10 all date from among Haydn's earliest surviving works. The exact date of composition of any of these is not known, but believed to be from the period of 1753-1755. For my own purposes, I have spread them out over this span. They share the same instrumentation discussed earlier, and three of them (5, 8 & 10) share the same key of C major, the main key of church music. As you can see from the chart in Part 1, the opportunity exists for adding trumpets and timpani (yes, they are always a set. Can't have one without the other, in Vienna anyway). So the recordings reflect that; both options taken. I will report back on that, and also on the inclusion of other instruments that may or may not be appropriate.

Hob 18:2 Concerto for Organ, Strings and BC (basso continuo)
Recordings:


Key: D major
1753   Organ or Harpsichord, Strings & BC   2 Oboes, 2 Trumpets and Timpani optional
3 movements
I.   Allegro moderato
II.  Adagio molto
III. Allegro

Organs used;
Ghielmi – Pradella 2007
Koopman – Garnier organ positif w/Gedackt 8', Flute 4', Principale 2, Quint 1½ Regal 16.
Haselböck – Orgel des Doms St. Martin zu Eisenstadt; Malleck 1778

Haselböck, Ghielmi and Koopman have all devoted extensive research to these works, which shows clearly in their liner notes. Since my copy of the Holzapfel set comes from the Big Box, you must know that I have no liner notes from it at all. I may end up purchasing the 2 disk set to make up for that deficiency though.

The general agreement among these 4 versions is that the extant "optional" trumpet/timpani parts are in fact bogus, Koopman going so far as to point out that some of the notes for the trumpets couldn't have been played on natural trumpets and so they must have been 19th century additions. Another consensus seems to be that the work itself (according to Haselböck) is for a large enough venue that 1 to a part strings aren't adequate. My ears aren't good enough to count the string players on a recording (that's a joke, OK? ) but it sounds to me like Koopman and Holzapfel use the fewest, possibly 2 to a part, while Haselböck uses more and Ghielmi has the most. No one adds any faux wind parts.

The organs themselves are, in the main, a trifle too big for this particular work, but Koopman uses a lovely little positif organ that is probably quite characteristic of what would have been in a small church at the time. As we discussed earlier though, organs in Austria at the time didn't have a pedal board, and all of these organs have one and they are used here. The kicker is that Haydn never wrote a part for the pedal board, and so whatever part they are playing has to have been added on later. It does merely reinforce the bass continuo though, so it only should be offensive to purists. Not us, them.   Another little bit of a info-gem from Ghielmi is that the range issue that I mentioned earlier is that throughout, Haydn's studiously avoids using the high d3 (probably an effort in a work in D!). This note was not available on an organ at that time. It takes a combination of historian and player to know something like that, I should say. He also is the only one to mention that the 2 cadenzas (1 in each of the first 2 movements) are left to the player to improvise. Of the 4, I enjoyed Koopman's (in the first movement) the most as he captured and recapped the essence of the movement nicely and economically as well. Overall, I prefer the sound of Koopman's little positive organ the best, and also the economy of forces used. So if pressed for a favorite, Koopman/Challenge would be it.


Hob 18:10 Concerto in C
Circa 1753-55  Organ or Harpsichord, Strings & BC
3 movements
I.   Moderato
II.  Adagio
III. Allegro

Recordings used:


Hob 18:10 in C major is also in this group of early concertos that Haydn wrote in Vienna in the early/mid 1750's. It is one of the two that could be considered smaller scale, along with #5. #2 & 8 are larger in conception and more expansive. This is actually a very attractive work that I have been enjoying as I listened to. With one notable exception, the four bands treated it as a smaller scale work, with 2 of them (Haselböck and Ghielmi) even dropping down to one-on-a-part in the central Adagio. Schornsheim plays it with a fairly large string section and at a brisk pace, as we shall see again later when we look at #8. In the Adagio (which plays as an Andante here) the more rapid tempo makes the phrasing seem to fall together in a very positive way. It is a nice entertainment when done this way, although unlikely to have been able to fulfill any possible liturgical function.

The surprise of the bunch is Holzapfel, who here fills his orchestra out in the strings and adds trumpet and timpani! This is the only one of the four early concertos which doesn't claim to offer this option, and so it left me scratching my head. Still, if parts can be devised (which is routine and always has been since they were new works. The same is true of Mozart. The T & T are always separate from the main parts) then the work can certainly handle them. They don't sound bad in any way, just surprising to hear.

Ghielmi also uses a stripped down, one-on-a-part orchestra in the Adagio and it balances nicely with the organ here. Of the four versions I looked at, Ghielmi and Haselböck had the most appeal for me. The size of the band, the tempos used, the balance between organ and orchestra, all of them come together nicely in these recordings.

I notice in reading the personnel listing of the orchestra (La Divina Armonia) that Ghielmi has 6 violins (4 firsts & 2 2nds?) A viola, a cello and a double-baß. Since there is no part for a viola, one is left wondering if she is there to reinforce the continuo section by doubling the cello, or to add some punch to the 2nd violins. Curious if anyone has an idea about that. 

Next time we will cover concerto #5 & 8, both from this same time period. As always, your feedback is welcomed.

[Gurn Blanston]

Part 3
Hob 18:5
Circa 1753-5    Organ, Strings & BC   (2 Oboes, 2 Trumpets and Timpani optional)
3 movements
I.   Allegro moderato
II.  Andante
III. Allegro

Recordings:


Much of what was said about the previous work holds true for this one also. It is perhaps a touch smaller in scale than the D major concerto, but one gets the sense that it is more tightly constructed. As a note pointing towards the future of the concerto, Haydn has here kicked off the central slow movement with the organ instead of a little thematic flourish in the orchestra. I found this rather surprising, not typical at all.
Holzapfel is the only version that I have on the organ right now. I believe that Koopman 1 will have it also, but Schornsheim plays it on a harpsichord instead. Fortunately for me, Holzapfel does a lovely job with it. The organ doesn't sound like the one he uses in the D major work, it seems like a smaller one, a chamber organ at best. And this is a good thing, it suits the scale of the work and matches up nicely with the fact that his orchestra appears to be at most 2 on a part, much closer to scale and well balanced with the organ. If you have either this 2 disk set or the Big Box, I think you will enjoy this work in there.

Hob 18:8 Concerto in C
Circa 1753-5    Organ, Strings & BC   (2 Oboes, 2 Trumpets and Timpani optional)
I.   Moderato
II.  Adagio
III. Allegro

Recordings:


Concerto #8 is a more expansive work than #5. They seem to have a kinship in the little items like the writing style in the solo part in the first movement, but also in the bigger things like this one shares the idea of opening the slow movement directly with the solo instead of the orchestra.

Holzapfel plays both works in a similar manner, with a small string section and a neat sounding small organ. Played in this manner, either of these works would be perfectly suitable for a chapel or smallish church. Something different from the other two versions presented here; he plays the central Adagio as essentially a long solo for the organ with only the basso continuo along for the ride. It is very convincing done this way.

Schornsheim and Haselböck clearly have a different vision for this piece though. Both of them decided to use the optional trumpets and timpani and larger string sections, and the result is a greatly expanded sound that can easily fill a medium size church, such as would also have been part of Haydn's world in those days. One easy way to differentiate the two though is that Schornsheim plays a much more brisk tempo than does Haselböck. They both sound good, but I think that their intentions are different. Haselböck is playing in the Church of Eisenstadt, and it just seems to me that he is matching the work to that. Schornsheim is playing it more for entertainment, and doing a fine job of it too. So this is a case where I would choose the version I wanted based as much on what I was using it for (you know my habit of playing masses with ancillary music included, I'm sure). All 3 versions are really quite excellent so it comes down to what you feel like today.

That concludes the 4 earliest concertos. In Part 4 we will tackle #6 & 7, a double concerto and an adaptation. I hope you find it interesting. Please feel free to comment on anything you've read so far. Your questions help me to learn!

[SonicMan46]

Hi Gurn - have just finished reading your newest essays on the organ works and I'm getting itchy to obtain all - seems like Holzapfel might be my 'single' best choice @ the moment, i.e. all of the works, recent recordings, and @ the Brilliant pricing.  Thanks again for putting all of this 'early' material together - Dave

[Leo K.]

Hello again Gurn! I'm glad you are posting essays on Haydn's concerti for organ, I think I have Koopman's account but will have to check when I get home. I had faulty files of that disk and I'm not sure if I replaced them yet. In any case, this is a genre I haven't listened to hardly among Haydn's output, so again, I'm thankful you're presenting info about these works!

In other news I just received Buchbinder's complete Haydn sonata box, which I'm excited to hear! Also, I'm getting the Bernstein box of Haydn symphonies and masses, old favorites of mine in one convenient set!

[Gurn Blanston]

Hi Gurn - have just finished reading your newest essays on the organ works and I'm getting itchy to obtain all - seems like Holzapfel might be my 'single' best choice @ the moment, i.e. all of the works, recent recordings, and @ the Brilliant pricing.  Thanks again for putting all of this 'early' material together - Dave

Thanks, Dave, glad you're enjoying. As I said at the beginning, these works are unique in Haydn's output, and so they stand alone there in a place that not a lot of people want to go. But I have found them to be worth the time, both from an historical perspective and an entertainment one. It sort of has me itching to check out the instruments more. My knowledge of organs from this time (or really, from any time) is abysmally dim, can't really have that, can we?

Yes, I would think that the Holzapfel would be a good choice. I hunted round last night to see if Brilliant post their liner notes online, but of course they don't. I ended up buying the set just for the liner notes, which Brilliant say on their website are well researched and written.  Of course, they would, wouldn't they?  Mustn't have a 'Morons Only' sticker on the front...

[Gurn Blanston]

Hello again Gurn! I'm glad you are posting essays on Haydn's concerti for organ, I think I have Koopman's account but will have to check when I get home. I had faulty files of that disk and I'm not sure if I replaced them yet. In any case, this is a genre I haven't listened to hardly among Haydn's output, so again, I'm thankful you're presenting info about these works!

In other news I just received Buchbinder's complete Haydn sonata box, which I'm excited to hear! Also, I'm getting the Bernstein box of Haydn symphonies and masses, old favorites of mine in one convenient set!

Leo,
Delighted to see you again. By Koopman, you mean his first set on Philips? That one should be in my mailbox by Wednesday, I hope. If it is as good as his 2nd one, that will be great.  If you have them, they are at least worth a good listen. You being a fan of Hasse (and Wagenseil?) should feel right at home with these, I would think.

Let us know how the Buchbinder works out for you. If I was going to get some modern piano Haydn, I suspect that this would be what I would get. Heard good things about it.

And of course, Lennie, heard very good things about that box too. Enjoy!

[Gurn Blanston]

Two discs into Solomons' Haydn and finding it rather drab, actually. Quite listless and relatively boring. Will it get better, I wonder?

What a blow for you!

[Gurn Blanston]

Part 4

Hob 18:6 Concerto in F
Circa 1756    Organ or Harpsichord, Solo Violin, Strings & BC
3 movements;
I.   Allegro moderato
II.  Largo
III. Presto

Recordings;




Chances are good that if you know any of these concertos at all, it is this double concerto for keyboard and violin. Probably not in the organ version, but it has been being recorded for years with a piano, then a fortepiano, then a harpsichord, and finally with the instrument that it was probably written for. Although if this was intended for insertion in a mass, it was one that would be performed on a joyous occasion, since that would be one of the best adjectives to describe it! Just to spend a moment in semi-speculation, in an interview much later in life, Haydn addressed the fact that he had always received criticism because his church music was too joyous. He replied to his critics of the propriety of his sacred music that his heart always leaped with joy when contemplated God and it couldn't help but be reflected in his music. The other thing that occurs to me is my first reaction when I heard a disk of Mozart's 'Church Sonatas' for the first time. These were anything but somber of funereal. They were, in fact, the spur to my interest in Austrian church music.

On his first traversal of the 'complete organ concertos' in 1980, Koopman skipped this work, electing instead to perform it with the same group of players;



except the violin soloist was Monica Huggett who was concertmaster at the time, while on this newer version it is current concertmaster Catherine Manson. The fact that the internal evidence used (as with others of these works) was that the work itself was expressly written to avoid the notes outside of the narrower compass of the organ shows that the state of the art of music scholarship has advanced a bit, and that current recordings are reflecting that advance even with the same players over time.

The lively Allegro moderato first movement settles down into a Largo which is no funeral march at all. The central portion of it is an extended duet between the two soloists which switches the lead back and forth for a nice sharing of tonal color throughout. In Holzapfel's instrument in particular, the 4' Spitzfletten is used to good effect in much of this duet. The lively finale also allows plenty of opportunity for the solo violin to stand out from the tutti, where by tradition this part is played from.

Of the four versions presented here, it is a hard choice to select a favorite as each has its own charms. Ultimately it is a toss-up between Ghielmi and Holzapfel. Both are played wonderfully, capitalizing on the opportunities that Haydn gave for the players to express the pleasure they were getting from the music by little improvisations and ornaments. I know that's a difficult description to read; you can just imagine how hard it was to write!! But that is the feeling I get listening to these.

Hob 18:7
circa1757-60

Concerto in F, arranged from Trio in F for Cembalo, Violin & Cello, Hob 15:40.
3 movements
I   Moderato
II  Adagio
III Allegro
Solo Organ, Violin I, Violin II, basso continuo (Bassoon, Double Baß, Cello, Violone or any combination of)

Well, we finally encounter a bit of controversy. Such as it is in the classical world when Newman isn't around.   And it isn't whether Haydn wrote this work, the trio is doubtless his work. It is whether he was the arranger of the concerto from it. Apparently feelings ran high at some point in time, since it isn't even always listed with the accepted works (as it isn't in Wyn-Jones' "Oxford Companion to Haydn", for example). Of course musicologists are like political activists; they pick a side and stay with it no matter, with only a very rare change of opinion. For my purposes, this is a non-issue, and clearly there are some musicians out there who agree, since I have a few recordings of it.





So, of PI versions available, Koopman, back in 1979, was the first to record this piece. His liner notes mention its history as a keyboard trio, although as he states (accurately) "with a different second movement". He plays it with a standard Austrian church complement of 3 first violins, 3 second violins, a cello and a violone. The remaining concertos also use a viola but this one has no part for one. I admit to some confusion from Koopman's liner notes in this regard, where he starts out by saying that other than in #1 they only use strings, but then going on to say that they use 2 oboes and a bassoon also. Certainly the bassoon as part of the continuo is a very appropriate part of even a string orchestra, but the oboes are an oddity! Perhaps in the original Dutch it makes more sense. Anyway, it sounds very fine played as it is. The Lindsen organ is a lovely sounding instrument, at the time of this recording it was newly rebuilt to original standards and they did a great job with it. What we want to bear in mind at all times though is that Haydn's organs for these works had a single manual with no pedals, so anything that smacks of giant church organ is inappropriate, not just because it was not available to the composer anyway, but because the music can barely stand up to it with anything short of a Philharmonic. This is true of the "smaller" concertos, certainly not either #1 or 2, which can stand up to most anything.

I like that Haselböck addresses the issue of the trio directly. He speaks of the differences between the 2, and the fact that Breitkopf issued the work as a concerto in 1766. He is the only one to directly state his belief that this is an arrangement by Haydn. I agree with him, not because of the internal musical evidence cited, but because Haydn at that time was working for Count Moritz, composing both chamber music, his early symphonies, and music for the chapel. Knowing Haydn's habits throughout his career, it doesn't require the slightest stretch to believe that he would have adapted an extant chamber piece for church use. All it required was tossing out the minuet and composing a new, appropriate Adagio, and simplifying the keyboard part and making it fit the compass of the organ. What I haven't seen yet is any evidence that this process didn't go the opposite direction. Which is to say that there is no plausible reason to believe that Haydn didn't take one of his organ concertos, ornament and broaden out the keyboard part, toss out the Adagio and compose a new minuet, and voila! A new trio for the lads to play at tonight's soirée. Just sayin'...

Haselböck once again uses the beautiful little organ at the Church of St. Martin in Eisenstadt. It is a 1778 Malleck and very likely an organ that Haydn played later in life, although certainly not for these works. Nonetheless it is fine sounding. And Haselböck uses the real trio accompaniment (2 Violins & Bass). He is trying to show in this disk how these 3 concertos (2, 7 & 8 ) were suitable to be used in a small, medium and largish church building. His use of #7 for the small church strikes me as a perfect choice.

Holzapfel also uses a Malleck organ from Eisenstadt, this one a 1797 model, located in the Bergkirche. This organ is actually called 'The Haydn Organ' and the original 'organ' is in The Haydn Haus museum. Despite the fact that it has been upgraded several times over the centuries, Holzapfel uses only the stops and parts that were in existence in Haydn's time for this recording. It is a lovely sounding thing.

The final recording I included in here is a version of the Keyboard Trio on which the concerto is based (or vice-versa). I used the Trio 1790 version intentionally, not just to give Sarge a hard time, but also because AFAIK it is the only one that is properly played on the harpsichord, and in this case I think that is important if one is to see the difference. If this is indeed the model that Haydn chose, it is no mystery why, as it is among the most entertaining of the early trios. The finale (Allegro molto opposed to the plain Allegro of the concerto) is a real treat, and inversely reminiscent of some of the Hungarian themes that he used in later works. Tempo makes a real difference here as the thematic phrasing is different at this faster speed. I also have the Van Sweiten Trio's version where Oort plays on fortepiano, but one doesn't get quite the same feeling from it. Anyway, if you have the concerto and you have the trio, listen to them back to back. It's interesting.

And then there was one. I saved #1 for last for a variety of reasons, not least because there are several recordings of it so it will be as long an essay any of those for two works.  That one soon. As always, feedback and discussion are welcome.