Franz Joseph Haydn Anner Bylsma Vera Beths - Haydn The Last 4 Piano Trios (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

Once, there was a very lucky hungarian count...

dominic johnson | chicago, il | 07/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Does period instrument performance conjure up memories of anemic tone and poor intonation? Tired of sloppy vibrato and obvious phrasing? Try this disk for incisive playing with rich, warm sonorities that resonate inside your mind's ear. The absolute abandon these stellar musicians bring to these interpretations is infectious and convincing. At times one feels like the music is sheer telepathic group improvisation, not a meticulously notated opus number whatever. Having played some of Haydn's earlier piano trios where form is stricly adhered to and melodies stay within the constraints of the decorous, the eye-opening range of emotions expressed by these late works is clearly ground-breaking. The debt that Mozart and even L.v.B. owe to Papa H is once again in evidence here, particularly in the slow movements. Vera Beths has to be one of the most lyrical players of this age. Any doubters should refer to L'Archibudelli's recording of Beethoven's opus 9 trios, still my all-time favorite chamber music recording."

Haydn--wild, passionate, sometimes downright strange

Michael Steinberg | Rochester, NY USA | 09/27/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not only are these superb period performances--Levin's improvised ornaments add to the fun--but these extraordinary pieces should put the lie to the "Papa Haydn" tag. The most intimate and playful of his major works, the trios explore emotional depths the more public works only touch on. The bizarre, neo-Baroque Allegretto from No. 44 (Hob. 28) is one of the strangest pieces of the Classical period, with a stunning outburst of fury at the end--this in a trio that begins with an uncanny imitation of a guitar. (Thought a piano couldn't play pizzicato? Listen to Haydn's scoring.) And the whirligig German dance that closes the next trio, complete with village band sounds and joke after joke, might be the giddiest piece ever. Haydn's trio layout, with the 'cello usually doubling the piano's bass line, is often criticized; with the weaker sustaining power of the fortepiano, though, it makes perfect sense, and many balance problems disappear. This is great music, performed with love and delight."

Infectiously fun Haydn

Ryan Richards | Midland, MI United States | 12/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not usually a fan of period-instrument recordings, but there are some isolated ones that I can't imagine being played any other way, and this is one of them. The more incisive sound of these instruments helps delineate and clarify some of Haydn's best work. This is ferociously inventive music, even for Haydn, with not a bar of filler to be found. Other reviewers have commented on the whirling German dance that closes the E Flat trio (No. 45), or the guitar-like effect that opens the E Major (a resemblance made particularly uncanny by the period instrument sound). Note also the darkly shadowed middle movement of that E Major trio, which is so creepy as to be almost macabre - even by today's standards. This music was obviously meant for entertainment, and its inventiveness and breathless exuberance held my rapt attention from the first bar to the last... but the real genius here is how Haydn uses the "fun" surface of this music as a cover for his awesome depth of musical skill. Entertainment this music may be, but the lasting value comes from the seemingly effortless way this master composer wields every compositional technique in the book, without once making it obvious that's what he's doing. These trios are an unparalleled synthesis of intellect and emotion - the "meat and potatoes" and the fluffy pastries all in one. Levin, Beths and Bylsma see both those sides in this music, playing with an intensity and sense of delighted enjoyment that makes this music irresistible without ever straying outside Haydn's idiom. Highly recommended for any Haydn fan - and if you're new to Haydn, this is a great way to learn more."

Extremely enjoyable late Haydn

K. Bowersock | Lubbock, TX | 07/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is some of Haydn's greatest music. All of the piano trios belong next to the symphonies and string quartets as the cornerstones of Haydn's prolific output. However, what Haydn achieved in these last four trios is truly remarkable (each one far and away surpass anything Mozart had to say in the genre; not that Mozart's are bad by any means, but these are truly intimate masterpieces.). Listening to the very first notes of the C major, you'll know you made the correct decision in this purchase.

Robert Levin, Anner Bylsma, and Vera Beths are unparalleled in these last four trios. This record was given a Rosette by the Penguin Guide, and rightly so. Also, if you have never heard these played on fortepiano, then you especially are in for a treat. Its truly hard for me to go back to the modern grand after listing to Levin's upbeat and crisp articulation. So, even if you have the Beaux Arts Trio's seminal interpretations of these works, this is still an essential purchase for the avid listener. It will give you a new perspective on what late Haydn is all about.

"

Haydn Understood His Instrument...

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 09/18/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"... and that instrument was the fortepiano, not its great-grandchild the modern grand piano. Haydn knew both the strengths and limits of the fortepiano; he didn't choose, in his paternal sapience, to write for an idealized Platonic form of piano of the future. Instead, a man with ears of his era, he wrote specifically to exploit the exact qualities of tone and touch that characterized the fortepiano. Readers of my other reviews will already know that I'm a staunch advocate of original instruments and "historically informed performance." This recording of Haydn's four "Sonatas for fortepiano with the Accompaniment of Violin and Cello", published in 1796, makes my case. I've heard all four performed on 20th C instruments, and the 'ensemble' has never made sense. Finally, with this performance, I hear what this music is all about.

Let's be clear that these four pieces are not genuinely "Trios". They are, as Haydn specified, sonatas for a soloistic fortepiano supported - augmented acoustically - by cello and violin. The balance is critical. The fortepiano was inherently a quieter instrument than any modern piano can be when played with normal touch and without constant pedal-pounding. There's nothing thunderous written into this music, yet when modern strings try to 'partner' with the modern piano, that's how it sounds. Notes on the fortepiano have a much quicker 'decay', closer to that of a harpsichord than to a grand piano. The touch is therefore lighter, more precise, staccato, transparent. Ensemble rests and pauses have a radically different quality on the fortepiano, and Haydn exploited that quality brilliantly; silences are an essential, integral part of these sonatas, in the C major dramatically so. These pieces are all about wit and grace. Wit is the dominant affect; elegance is one of the passions in the music of Haydn and his contemporaries. Pianists! Save your romanticism for a later generation of composers!

Robert Levin plays his fortepiano lovingly, as if he were a man born in the wrong era of the keyboard, as if he were the very ghost of the virtuosic Therese Bartolozzi née Jansen, the British keyboardist for whom Haydn wrote these and others of his late London sonatas. Levin's touch is elegance reincarnated, and his fingers fly at the speed of wit itself. Anner Bylsma's cello is precisely what it should be, a melodic/harmonic shadow of support. Bylsma's musicianship was always deeper than his bow technique. The violin of Vera Beths isn't quite so marvelous, but in the non-demanding supportive role required by these compositions, it's more than adequate. I wish Levin had recorded a full 'box' of Haydn's keyboard sonatas; I suspect I'd prefer them to any non-historical interpretation."

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