Romberg: Symphony No. 4/Mozart: Violin Concerto/Haydn
Julia Schroder, violin.
Collegium Musicum Basel/Kevin Griffiths
CPO 555 175
Total Time:  60:12
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

As the 18^th Century drew to a close, the threat of the Ottoman Empire, which had terrorized Europe for almost a century, would come to a close with the Austro-Turkish Wars with the Hapsburg’s bringing them to an end in 1791.  The somewhat dubious treaty would result in partitioning the Balkans and parts of Eastern Europe.  The Turks had come as far as the city gates of Vienna in 1683 and their terror was something well-known to the likes of Viennese composers.  Haydn’s own grandparents were among the few who survived the destruction of Hainburg that very year.  Western music owes some of its percussion to the appearance of the military Janissary bands that made up the armies.  These instruments, melodies, and specific rhythms would lend themselves to a host of Western pieces.  Most notably is Haydn’s own Military Symphony which explores this both from the percussion instruments employed, but also in subtle rhythmic motives in the work.  Of course, more famous are Mozart’s own “Rondo alla turca” from his Piano Sonata, K. 331.  Beethoven also would write music with Turkish influences in his music for The Ruins of Athens.  There are a host of works that are overtly identified with this musical “inspiration” and three of them appear on this new release with a rarer symphony by Andreas Romberg (1767-1821), a familiar Mozart violin concerto, and a Haydn overture.

The sequencing for the album is a bit backwards with the overture being tracked at the end as more of an encore than the appropriate concert overture.  Instead, we are treated to the brief Symphony No. 4, Op. 51 (“Alla turca”) by Romberg.  He was a court musician for most of his life serving in first Munster and Bonn before playing in the German Theater Orchestra of Hamburg.  He would eventually succeed Louis Spohr as capellmeister there.  Romberg wrote ten symphonies of which 4 were published in his lifetime.  Of them was the work heard here which was first performed December 22, 1798, in Hamburg.  It is notable not only for its additional percussion, but also for a piccolo part.  The music is otherwise a fairly acceptable late-Classical work with the cymbals and bass drum adding an appropriate punch to the lyrical, mostly forgettable theme in the opening “Allegro”.  A little chromaticism also makes an appearance for a nice touch.  Swirling strings help move us along as the music hovers back and forth from major to minor.  Trumpets and horns add a bit more emphasis.  The minuet goes as one might expect with the trio featuring nice wind writing, notable for including the piccolo here too.  Notable here is the rather interesting off-kilter rhythmic idea with some occasional harmonic choices that delight.  The slow movement has good string writing hinting a bit at romanticism in the wings.  A march-like finale brings the work to an exciting close.  While the thematic ideas are not as catchy as one might hope, it is still rather interesting to hear how Romberg is exploring these “new” instruments within the context of the 18^th-Century symphony.  The dramatic aspects help with the big cadences showing off things most.  The ensemble certainly lends itself well to a committed performance.

In more familiar music, Julia Schroder explores Mozart’s most popular Violin Concerto in A, K. 219 (1775) which is noted for when the celli and basses play with the wood of their bow to create a rather interesting percussive effect.  Other similarities to Romberg’s ideas include interesting chromatic crescendos and those shifts into the minor mode coupled with interesting rhythmic accents in the finale.  The piece is among one of Mozart’s most popular (over 100 recordings currently in the catalogue).  It allows for a variety of interesting themes and opportunities for the soloist.  Among them is a striking dramatic moment in the opening movement signaling an almost operatic drama to the work.  The ensemble has a decidedly different audio quality that feels slightly fuller than in the Romberg.  This may be equally due to familiarity and confidence in the Mozart.  Schroder’s playing is quite beautiful in the Adagio interruption and this sets the tone for her lyrical playing style.  There is certainly a sense of joy in this performance that is warmly supported by the orchestra.  While the Romberg required a bit more brashness at times, the Mozart highlights the ensemble’s delicate, and lyrical side quite well.

Haydn’s opera, L’incontro improvviso (1775) is taken from a story also explored by Gluck.  Set in Turkey and involving the odd comic abduction tale.  The “Overture” is in the Italian form with a special concert ending used here as written by the composer.  It has some interesting Turkish color but the bulk will be used within the opera itself.  It serves its purpose to set us up for the odd adventures to follow.

All three works here are examples of composers exploring “unusual” and “strange” musical instruments and worlds though each are quite conventional for the period as one might anticipate.  The Mozart is the strongest work of the three and a well-done performance to boot which makes the others nice discoveries of musical history.

Haydn Symphonies volume 6 (Nos. 3, 26, 30, 79)
Basel Chamber Orchestra/Giovanni Antonini
Alpha 678
Total Time:  67:05
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

The Joseph Haydn Foundation of Basel is teaming up with the Basel Chamber Orchestra on a recorded survey of all 107 symphonies of Haydn in preparation for the 300^th anniversary of the composer’s birth.  Haydn’s symphonies are perhaps some of the most wide-ranging works of the 18^th and early 19^th Century.  His exploration of this new orchestral genre with opportunity to experiment with the finest musicians at his disposal created a body of work whose depths are worth the attention of any listener.  Too often, Haydn performances and recordings tend to focus on the subtitled symphonies, and especially those written for Paris and London.  The latter are perhaps more over-the-top with their audience-pleasing gimmicks but even here one can overlook the depth of craft and compositional skill that Haydn had.  It did not go unnoticed as his influence on Beethoven gives us the music that shapes the Romantic Era.

Each symphony has its own unique soundworld though.  Early symphonies have this curious sound that is part concerto grosso and Baroque style with something that is decidedly the composer’s own fingerprints.  As the pieces continue from the abstract to those that begin to incorporate folk material, or take on specific subject themes, one hears a further exploration of the orchestra and structure.  For those steeped in the sonata-allegro formal expectations, Haydn’s music can be a bit harder to grasp at first as he tended to favor a more monothematic approach.  Perhaps it was an economy that allowed him to thus churn out more music for Prince Esterhaza.

Antonini and the Basel orchestra are performing here on period instruments which already gives them an advance over many modern performances.  What is also an excellent idea is to group symphonies from across Haydn’s output rather than simply playing them consecutively on each volume.  This has allowed them to add in a few additional short works as well for fillers.  Volume six though features four symphonies, two of which (Nos. 26 and 30) feature quotes of plainchant.

The album opens with the Symphony No. 3 in G.  Predating Haydn’s employ in Esterhaza, the work is believed to have been written while he was under the employ of Count Morzin of Bohemia.  It was written prior to 1762.  The importance of the work is that it is one of the earliest examples of a symphony in four movements.  From its opening measures one can hear Baroque-style counterpoint coupled with some rather intriguing syncopated ideas in the recapitulation.  The slow movement is a sonata-form structure with some beautiful string writing.  The minuets of Haydn often have some of the composer’s greatest wit on display.  Here we get an almost canonical opening and a trio that highlights winds.  A more style gallant informs this “modern” dance.  The breezy finale is perhaps even more impressive contrapuntally.  With the Symphony No. 79 (1784) we get a glimpse of the “public” Haydn in that it is believed this work along with the 78^th and 80^th symphonies were intended for public concerts in London that would not materialize.  The work is in four movements and has less wind writing than one might expect which suggests that it might very well have originally started life as a chamber piece.  Haydn plays a bit with form in the opening movement which has a hornpipe-like second subject.  The first surprise here to startle audiences may also be the structural approach of overlapping the development into the recapitulation.  More likely, the shocking intent of the work was in the surprise shift to an allegro in the second movement which begins with a moderate singing “Adagio.”  The minuet and trio is fairly standard here with some nice interplay that adds horns for the trio.  The finale is a rondo with winds appearing less so at first than one might expect.  Of the three works, this one is perhaps the “curious cousin”.

The first of two religious-tinged works is the three-movement Symphony No. 26 in d (1770).  An attached subtitle, “Lamentation”, refers to the use of the chant music that appears in the Holy Thursday services preceding Easter.  The first movement introduces another liturgical melody and is marked by a sense of sadness that gives way to a slightly elevated mood.  The central movement has gorgeous moments for oboe.  Essentially it is in two sections with the second featuring more an accompanimental string idea.  The final movement is a minuet and trio that contrasts an elegant opening minuet with a more relaxed trio.  It is one of the shorter of Haydn’s works at just over 15 minutes.  It is of course in that Sturm und Drang sensibility with Mozart’s 1773 g-minor symphony not far off for comparison.  We move from Lent to the Easter Resurrection for the Symphony No. 30 in C (1765), with its appellation “Alleluia.”  It too is another of the brief symphonies.  A tender andante is notable for its addition of the flute set against a more restrained harmonic palette.  The opening movement uses a plainchant for its primary theme with some variation masquerading as a secondary subject.  The final movement blends a minuet into this structure and is interesting for the orchestral writing.  This piece ends the release.

The booklet itself features some stunning photographs intended to connect the music to visuals the listener can meditate upon as they listen.  The notes themselves are a little less helpful and diffuse which may frustrate new listeners to the music.  The philosophy seems to be to try and create a fresh approach to hearing these pieces rather than steeping them with the historical backdrops of their composition.  There is enough there to get a sense of what the pieces are doing though.  That said, the performances here are crisp, clear, and dance when they need to, and plumb the emotional depths when they need to as well.  Balance is also handled well in the overall sound picture.  These are performances that are infused with a sense of joy and appreciation for the art that they encompass.  For those of us raised on the Dorati set, still an impressive achievement for its time, these performances will strike the ear with a sense of well-informed historical accuracy that is not set aside for interpretive requirements either.