Customer Reviews

Haydn: Piano Concertinos; String Trios

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Neither the included Piano Concerti (or Concertinos as they are called here) nor the String Trios are major Haydn works. The composer did not seem particularly interested in the forms, nor did he pursue developing them as he did with the symphony, the string quartet, or the piano trio. The works presented on this disc (comprised of Piano Concertino in C, Hob.XIV:12; in F, Hob.XVIII.F2; in G, Hob.XIV:13; and in C, Hob.XIV:11; and String Trios in D, Hob.XI:11; and in C, HOB.V:16) are from relatively early in his career, some of them written even before he took up his lifelong position at the court of the Eszterhazys, the rest written early in his Eszterhazy tenure.

The concertinos are scored for keyboard (in this case played on an Erard fortepiano from 1893), two violins and cello, with the fortepiano much to the fore. They are all in three movements -- fast, slow, fast -- and none makes particularly difficult demands on the players. Perhaps they were primarily intended for domestic use, initially in the Eszterhazy family circle and, after they were published, in other similarly music-loving households.

The D Major string trio was written to include the baryton, a fretted bass-viol-like string instrument played by, or at least favored by, Haydn's patron, Nicolaus Eszterhazy. The Trio is probably more familiar in its guise as a flute, violin and cello trio as arranged by Johann Nepomuk Hummel. It has a modestly interesting contrapuntal finale. The C Major trio was written for two violins and cello, almost never heard now, and was probably composed before Haydn's Eszterhazy employment. It spirited outer movements framing a rather stodgy minuet.

The playing on this disc is acceptable without being outstanding. The late nineteenth-century Erard fortepiano frankly sounds like an unconfidently regulated modern piano. Sabine Vatin, the fortepianist, is competent, as are her string-playing colleagues, the Ensemble d'arco, all of them members of the Luxemburg Philharmonic.

This is, as far as I know, the only CD that includes these particular works. They can be recommended for Haydn completists but I suspect their appeal will not go much beyond that niche group.

Scott Morrison