| Symphony No. 44 in E minor "Trauersymphonie" / "Mourning" (Hoboken 1:44) | ||
| 1 | Allegro con brio | 6. 29 |
| 2 | Menuetto – Allegretto (Canone in Diapason) | 5. 06 |
| 3 | Adagio | 6. 28 |
| 4 | Finale – Presto | 3. 16 |
| Symphony No. 22 in E flat major "The
Philosopher" / "Der Philosoph" (Hoboken 1:22) |
||
| 5 | Adagio | 6. 35 |
| 6 | Presto | 3. 55 |
| 7 | Menuetto | 3. 17 |
| 8 | Finale – Presto | 2. 57 |
| Symphony No. 64 in A major "Tempora mutantur" (Hoboken 1:64) | ||
| 9 | Allegro con spirito | 6. 01 |
| 10 | Largo | 5. 37 |
| 11 | Menuet – Allegretto | 2. 37 |
| 12 | Finale – Presto | 2. 55 |
Total playing-time:
|
52. 53 | |

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JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 44 in E minor
Symphony No. 22 in E flat major
Symphony No. 64 in A major
Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra
Concertmaster: Johan Kracht
Conductor: Marco Boni
PTC 5186 016
DSD recorded
Joseph
Haydn:
Symphonies Nos. 22, 44 and 64
Before Joseph Haydn wrote his first symphony, he had already made a reputation
for himself as a composer with a string of harpsichord sonatas, harpsichord
and organ concertos, various divertimenti and sacred music for the voice;
relatively speaking, he came quite late to the symphony. Nevertheless, he
was to complete
more than a hundred works in this genre during the 36 years which lay between
his first symphony and his great „London" Symphony. Whereas his
early symphonies, which still contain elements of the divertimento and the
suite, are already distinguished by a remarkable stylistic security, his
late works rank among the high points of the symphonic form in their Classical
perfection.
The earliest work on this recording, the Symphony in D, Hob. I.22, was composed
in 1764, three years after Haydn‘s appointment as second Kapellmeister
to Prince Paul Anton Eszterházy in Eisenstadt (after his death in 1762,
his brother Nikolaus became Haydn‘s employer). It is considered to be
probably the most original symphony Haydn had written at the time. The work
is structured along the lines of the church sonata, and is characterized by
the ease of the motivic invention, cheerfulness and partly also by the musical
humour so typical of its composer. Here, Haydn already provides some of the
first examples of the art of surprise, which he later made so famous. An unusual
feature in the orchestral writing for this symphony, which is nicknamed „The
Philosopher", is the use of the cor anglais, which is included here
for the first time in a symphony by Haydn and which gives the texture an
interesting
character.
The Symphony in E minor, Hob.I:44 dating from around 1771 is one of Haydn‘s
so-called Sturm-und-Drang symphonies, which also include his Hob. I:26, 42,
43, 46-50, 58 and 59. „Sturm und Drang" was a literary youth movement
in Germany; the term was derived from the subtitle of a dramatic work by Maximilian
Klinger and includes for instance works such as Götz von Berlichingen
and Werther by the young Goethe. „Sturm and Drang" is not defined
as a specific genre in music, even though some especially dramatic and emotional
compositions from this period (which, by the way, preceded the literary works)
have been thus labelled. These works are generally characterized by extreme
dynamic contrasts, dramatic orchestral tremolos in operatic fashion, syncopations,
large intervals and, not but not least, by the use of minor keys. The Symphony
No. 44 bears the apocryphal title „Mourning" Symphony, not only
because of its sinister character, but also because Haydn expressed the wish
for it to be played at his funeral. The first movement of this passionate work
with its „chiselled" unisono theme and contrasting motives is
developed contrapuntally in a brilliant manner. The Haydn scholar, H.C. Robbins
Landon,
suspects the influence of Christoph Willibald Gluck in this work. The slow
movement, which is positioned third in the symphony, an intense Adagio, is
more like a traditional Andante, in which the strings are effectively contrasted
with the entrances of the wind instruments. The monothematic Finale with
its two-bar leading motive is especially exciting. The darkly tinted Minuet
has
not retained any of the traditional dance character of this movement. In
its expressive idiom, it has become part of the entire dramatic concept of
this
symphony.
The Symphony in A, Hob I:64 is part of a string of about 20 symphonies written
by Haydn in Eszterháza between 1773 and 1781, and which are rarely performed
nowadays. They lurked, as it were, somewhere in the shadows between the three
significant symphonies dating from 1772 (Hob. I:45-47) and the later Paris
Symphonies (Hob. I: 82-87). Several of these works originated from music Haydn
wrote for opera or theatre, i.e. in connection with stage works performed in
Eszterháza, for which he supplied the music. What distinguishes them
from the works immediately preceding them, in which Haydn had proved himself
to be a radically experimental composer, is the return to a rather more conventional
style of composition, albeit that Haydn still has a fair number of surprises
in store for the listener in these works. As far as the Symphony No. 64 (with
the apocryphal title „Tempora mutantur") is concerned, there is
no specific theatrical reason behind the work, although H.C. Robbins Landon
has also confirmed that this originates from the stage. The beginning of the
first movement is especially conspicuous in this work, which – as in
quite a few of Haydn’s symphonies dating from this period – begins
piano, but surprises the listener straight away after two bars with two forte
bars. Then the motif from the beginning is repeated piano, and is followed
by the first forte bar, but this time played piano, thereupon repeated again
forte. The listener is not able to adjust to a certain model and is forced
to prepare himself for continual surprises during the course of the movement.
Haydn experimented with the variation form in quite a few slow movements in
this group of works; however, that was not the case in this symphony. This
movement, which in accordance with the form consists of three parts, includes
a Largo whose themes are hard to define, which is grotesquely interrupted by
fortissimo bars at the end. This peculiar, un-Classical movement fostered the
hypothesis that it was the missing stage music composed by Haydn for Shakespeare’s
tragedy Hamlet, which was given its première in 1773/74 in Pressburg.
According to this theory, the „Tempora mutantur" motto from this
Symphony would refer to Hamlet’s words „The time is out of joint".
Whereas the minuets belonging to the symphonies dating from around 1770 are
still characterized by strong emotions, Haydn returns in most of the third
movements belonging to this group of works, as for example in this Symphony
in A, to a more gently pleasing type of minuet. The lively Presto-Finale,
which is interrupted by dramatic outbursts and crowned with a fortissimo
ending,
shows itself to be a mixture of a sonata movement and a rondo.