I know it was you, Michael. You broke my heart.

Michael Haydn: Violin and Flute Concertos

I've never warmed to Michael Haydn, who I always connect in my mind with Fredo Corleone from The Godfather 2. In the shadow of his older brother Franz Joseph, he always seems to underperform what one might hope for, considering his bloodline and the obvious advantages he must have had. So, seeing this new disc from a group which I really admire, the Capella Savaria from Hungary, under Zsolt Kalló, who also plays the solo violin (the flutist is Andrea Bertalan), I set aside my prejudices, and tried to give Michael Haydn a chance.

In his wonderful liner notes to a disc of music by Luigi Boccherini that I recently reviewed, Emilio Moreno says,

"His musical language is possessed of a 'recognisably unidentifiable' quality, that Ciceronian 'nescio quid' to which his Enlightenment era contemporaries would always describe by employing the hackneyed 'no sé qué', when owning up to their inability to define the experience, within the limits of the expressible, of the beauty, loftiness, ease, sprezzatura, lightness, spirit and inventiveness which all seem to come together in the semantic range of the 'je ne sais quoi' and 'non so che' of philosophers and aesthetes when they wanted to explain the music of the brilliant and distinctive, often misunderstood, outsider who was 'Don Luis Boquerini'." 

It's this 'no sé qué' that I've almost always found missing in Michael Haydn's music. And the mid-18th Century was a particularly dangerous time to do without a special sauce, since the galant schemas of the time were so strong and universal across European music. Without it there are only a series of hackneyed devices strung together in hackneyed ways.

I'm pleased to report that I did discover that 'no sé qué' in this album, though not where I expected it. The mature Violin Concerto in A major, probably written in 1776, is a decent piece of music, sounding more like Mozart than brother Franz Joseph. But even though there are some fine melodies the piece never takes off. Neither do the two Flute Concertos, both from around the same time. I hasten to say that this is not the fault of the excellent soloists, the orchestral players, the conductor, or indeed of the Hungaroton producer or engineers. I can't imagine more vital performances of this music, but the fact remains that these three concertos are all rather pedestrian.

It's the earliest work on the disc that impressed me the most: the Violin Concerto in G major, probably from 1764. This music is so strong that it was once mistaken for Joseph Haydn - a common enough situation at the time, to be sure, since Franz Joseph's musical brand was the most important in Europe. I believe that the big brother would have been proud if he had heard this music, especially played as well as it is here. Beauty: check, loftiness: check, ease: check, sprezzatura: check, lightness: check, spirit: check and inventiveness: check. Mozart would probably add a final quality: taste. I think we can check that one off as well.

Good work, Fredo!

Here is the first movement of the G major Violin Concerto:

A fascinating programme, beautifully performed

The Great Fugue: music for two pianos & one piano four hands, by Schumann, Schubert, Mozart & Beethoven

Pianists Izabella Simon and Denes Varjon have built a really interesting program from a very solid base, a convincing and accomplished performance of Beethoven's own four hand transcription of the Great Fugue, originally the finale to his op. 130 String Quartet. Each of the pieces that precede the Beethoven is original and well worth listening to in its own right, and not just as a build-up to the main event. I had never heard Robert Schumann's Six Canonic Etudes, Op. 56, in Debussy's version for two pianos, but these are really delightful character pieces with plenty of charm and, well, character. Schubert packs a lot into the Allegro in A minor he wrote late in life: a poignant, sentimental soft centre surrounded by a crunchy, mock-serious coating. More delightful music, and played with especially apt energy, subtlety and style by these two fine pianists. The Mozart Fugue, K. 401, is one of the works that the composers wrote in response to his serious encounter with the contrapuntal music of J.S. Bach, and as it proceeds in its sombre way it's clear that Mozart has struck a deeply personal vein that he would go on to explore in his last decade, in his Great Mass and Requiem, and the most serious passages in his mature operas. This is a highly recommended release, both for its original repertoire and for the fine, assured playing.

Charming and vigorous string quartets

The Authentic Quartet from Hungary continue their excellent recording-premiere series of Pleyel String Quartets with another very appealing release on Hungaroton. These two- and three-movement works from the early 1790s are full of a vigorous, if rather naïve, charm and are free from any pretentious striving for the kind of meaning Haydn (Pleyel's master) or Mozart (Pleyel's contemporary) brought to the medium. They're just fun to listen to, and, key to this disc's success, obviously fun to play. I was especially taken with the Rondo eccossois; as I prepare for my first trip to Scotland next month this is just what I want to listen to!

The discreet charm of the Brandenbourgeoisie

Two brand new albums of Brandenburg Concertos will be released this spring, into a very crowded marketplace. More than fifteen hundred hits on Amazon.com! But I love this music so much, I'm not complaining.

The first, to be released on April 29, 2016, is from the Neumeyer Consort under cellist Felix Koch. This performance uses original instruments, with a medium-sized Baroque orchestra of 28 players. Tempos are brisk but not eccentrically so. There are occasional muddles where the natural horns seem to get in the way of the strings, but I wonder after close listening on my headphones if this was a recording balance problem. Otherwise this is a fairly slick and emotionally distanced run-through. I didn't get the fun, swinging feel the same ensemble, then under Michael Hofstetter, brought to highlights from Handel's Messiah, back in 2013 (on Oehms).

The second, due on May 13, 2016, is from the Budapest-based Capella Savaria, also playing period-instruments, conducted by Zstot Kallo, from Hungaraton. This version has similar tempos, which I guess are middle-of-the road for today, though they're zippy compared to the olden-days. The instruments have a bit more bite, and if you've been reading my reviews you know that's how I like my Baroque music. I give this recording two thumbs up.

The winner!

In some ways it's easier to review two Brandenburgs than one. It's just like my high school teachers said: compare and contrast. So I'll go for the Hungarian Brandenburgs, a bit rustic, in the classic HIP style, over the German ones, more galante and sophisticated, maybe, but with less salsa. Can I use that term when talking about Bach? Of course I can!