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Papa Haydn’s Glowing Creations New York
Alice Tully Theater, Lincoln Center
10/15/2024 -
Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in B‑flat Major “Sunrise”, Op. 76 No. 4, Hob. III.78 – Concerto in C Major for Violin, Strings and Harpsichord, Hob. VIIa.1 – Trio in C Major for, Piano, Violin and Cello, Hob. XV:27 – Symphony No. 94 in G Major “Surprise”, Hob. I.94 (Arranged by Johann Peter Salomon)
Tara Helen O’Connor (Flute), Aaron Boyd, Daniel Phillips, Pinchas Zukerman (Violin), Paul Neubauer (Viola), David Finckel (Cello), Nina Bernat (Double Bass), Michael Stephen Brown (Pianist/harpsichord), Wu Han (Pianist), Viano Quartet: Lucy Wang, Hao Zhou (Violin), Aiden Kane (Viola), Tate Zawadiuk (Cello)
Mini-“Surprise” Symphonists (© Samuel A. Dog)
“Haydn’s music reminds me of blissful eternally youthful life before the Fall.”
E.T.A. Hoffmann
“It is the melody which is the charm of music, and it is that which is most difficult to produce. The invention of a fine melody is a work of genius.”
Joseph Haydn
My love affair with Haydn occurred during a blizzard in rural Hungary some 25 years ago. While living in Budapest, I took a train to the town of Sopron. It had started to snow, but I found a bus going 17 miles away to Fertőd, Hungary. Alighting, I trudged through the now thick snow, reaching the famed Esterházy Palace, where Haydn had lived for much of his creative life.
The Palace was about to close, but the two curators welcomed me, showed me around the massive structure–and best of all, took me across the grounds where Haydn and his players lived in a tiny dormitory.
At that point, the snow had turned into a blizzard: no buses, no trains. “I suppose,” said one of the curators in German, “that you will have to stay in the Palace tonight. Is that all right?”
Ha! They showed me into a huge room with a huge bed and mattress, with a fireplace to keep it warm. I had seen a little grocery across the street, went out, bought two bottles of local wine, some cheeses and bread, rushed back, and the three of us conversed for a few hours.
They had to get to their home, so I was left by myself in the Esterházy Palace. Waking the next morning, I strolled to the door. To the literally Palatial door (where Haydn in his dormitory was probably forbidden to use). I opened it, saw the melting snow, yawned and trudged back to the bus, train and work in Budapest, freezing cold and blessedly warm.
Which (forgive me) is peripherally about the Opening Night of the half-century old Chamber Music Society (CMS), and their all‑Haydn concert.
One tends to confine Haydn to jolly music of all kinds, with Creation as the apex of his creative powers. But here were three rare multi-faceted chamber works, and a rare arrangement, each showing a different face.
The players were among the most distinguished in New York: including the young Viano Quartet. The only household name was Pinchas Zukerman, and his role would have been unusual for any star fiddler. His name was not highlighted in the program, and his solo work in a Haydn concerto was, if extremely pyrotechnical, far from his usual showpieces.
P. Zukerman (© Samuel A. Dog)
Rather, this was a chamber Concerto, more in line with a Vivaldi or at least Italianate concerto. No conductor, hardly a nod of the head from the illustrious Concertmaster/Soloist, and the entire ensemble started with good “Papa Haydn” spirits.
Mr. Zukerman’s understated surprise was that nothing simplified, no Vivaldi formulae came from his bow. His solos started with double‑stops, going forward with more double‑stopping, with the most ravishing lyrical high notes throughout.
Even more splendid, since Haydn wrote this for one of his favorite dormitory roommates (actually, he was separated from them in his own tiny room), he gave the soloist three cadenzas, one for each movement. Mr. Zukerman took the melodic leaps, the arpeggios and the fast runs with–can I say this?–a modest, almost ingenuous style.
This was the music from one of our greatest artists, yet Mr. Zukerman here was one of eight other players. Yes, it was a concerto piece, but here it was for a true ensemble.
I wish it were possible to speak of the opening Quartet, but for a misplaced reason, the Viano Quartet were placed on extreme stage right, I was sitting on the opposite side in the audience, and the acoustics precluded anything except the highly energetic playing by the First Violin.
The largest ensemble was for the very rare “Surprise” Symphony, here arranged for flute (often replacing first violins), string quartet, double‑bass, and piano. The piece had been adapted by London-based entrepreneur-composer Johann Peter Salomon while Haydn was in London. That way everybody could hear the famed Symphony.
And in fact, it worked. Meters were changed, parts condensed–and of course, we missed the surprise trumpets and drums in the second movement. But Mr. Salomon knew what he was doing, and Mr. Haydn happily reaped in British fame, shillings and integrity.
A personal surprise–and my unalloyed favorite of the evening–was the humbly named C Major Trio. Violinist Aaron Boyd, cellist David Finckel and pianist Michael Steven Brown launched into a work which, for sheer happiness, ebullience, almost drunken spirits, could not be improved.
Haydn’s challenge to his artists was to keep the party both ecstatic and controlled. An impossible feat, of course, but these three artists, and Haydn at his most exuberant, produced a work of unalloyed joy.
Harry Rolnick
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