HAYDN String Quartets: op. 1; op. 2 • Buchberger Qrt • BRILLIANT 93650 (3 CDs: 177:15)

Haydn’s first quartets were probably written in 1755–57, predating his appointment to Count Morzin. Current musicology has banned op. 1/5 and op. 2/3 and 5 from the quartet canon and has added the E♭ Quartet we now call op. 1/0. A Capriccio recording of op. 1 by the Petersen Quartet calls that E♭ work op.1/5, filling in the canonical six but risking even greater confusion. So we are left with 10 works here, which can thus be called the complete op. 1 and op. 2.

These are five-movement works, each containing a pair of Menuets around a central Adagio; in two cases that central movement is a Presto. Opening movements run the gamut from Adagio to Presto, and the finales are all fast. There is little of sonata form yet, except that Haydn was always developing his material—more so than other composers of the time did in such Divertimentos. Compared with later Haydn quartets, the music is not very interesting. But we must hear them, for this is the true beginning of the string quartet; perhaps only opera had a comparably defining starting moment. In op. 9, Haydn settled on four movements, and during op. 20 he produced some opening Allegros with the familiar exposition, development, and recapitulation. Nevertheless, op. 1 is Haydn, and he was incapable of writing dull music. Individual movements can be delightful, as is the entire F-Major Quartet, op. 2/4.

One can’t listen to three hours of early Haydn quartets at one sitting; there just isn’t enough variety in the music. I have been sampling these recordings, plus some by the Kodály and Petersen Quartets, over several weeks. The Buchberger hews a middle course between the solid, conservative ensemble of the Kodály and the crisp, dry tones of the Petersen. All are appropriate, all worth hearing; the Buchberger could be called the most comfortable of the lot. One thing I don’t like about these performances is that the Buchberger plays the Minuets slowly. That can work wonders in later Haydn quartets or symphonies, but these Minuets are very simple, with no stomping-peasant dances; they can become rather flat and repetitive. I do like the Buchberger’s Prestos (14 of them in these 10 quartets); they are not as quick as those by the Petersen Quartet, but they have more life and spirit.

In sum, this is a very satisfactory set, having the advantage of including all 10 quartets; the Petersens play only op. 1, and the Kodály Quartet picks two from each group.

FANFARE: James H. North