大象传媒

Donald Macleod's survey of Haydn's string quartets continues with his famous Lark Quartet, excerpts from op 64/3 and op 54/3, and an assessment of the pros and cons of the composer's enormous popularity in the UK.

From his opus 0 and opus 1 of the 1750s to his unfinished opus 103 of 1803, Haydn鈥檚 68 string quartets span the major part of his compositional life. While he wasn鈥檛 the inventor of the form, he鈥檚 fully deserving of the epithet, the 鈥渇ather of the string quartet鈥� as he elevated the form to new heights. It鈥檚 his ideas that take the quartet from its 18th century antecedents to the conventions that are rather more familiar to us today. The conversational textures he created redefined the relationship between the four instruments. Always aware of his surroundings, and other musical influences, he used ideas and rhythms from folk music, dance, opera, the instrumental concerto and other genres for larger forces. He established a sequence of movements, and within them, adapted sonata form, as well as making use of the minuet-trio, the variation, the rondo and fugue forms. Original, serious, yet with his trademark, irresistible humour never too far away, Haydn鈥檚 quartets make up a unique body of work that justly receive both admiration and appreciation.

Across the week Donald Macleod enjoys a masterclass in string quartet writing from one of the great masters of the form. His survey of Haydn includes complete performances of opus 50 no 4 - a quartet written for a King in the grandest of styles, the brilliant and theatrically inspired op 64, no 2, and the spritely and playful Lark Quartet. The versatile composer produced opus 71 no 2 with the largest of concert spaces in mind, and the series concludes with the second of Haydn鈥檚 opus 76 quartets, the last complete set he wrote, and widely regarded as being among the supreme accomplishments of his career.

Haydn swept an ecstatic London audience off its feet at his debut concert in 1791, but then a rivalry between two concert promoters left him uncomfortably at odds with a former pupil, Ignaz Pleyel.

String Quartet op 54 no 3
IV: Presto
Quatuor Ysaye

Symphony no 92 in G major, Hoboken I/92, (Oxford symphony)
IV: Menuet
Berlin Philharmonic
Simon Rattle, director

Quartet op 64 no 5 in D major (The Lark)
Doric Quartet

Miseri noi! Misera patria! (Cantata), Hob.XXIVa:7
Christiane Karg, soprano
Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen, director

String Quartet no 50 in B flat major, Opus 64 no 3
IV: Finale 鈥� Allegro con spirito
The Lindsays