Notes and Editorial Reviews
Another ear-opening recording from the Dutch musician Pieter Wispelwey and his 1710 Barak Norman cello. The two Haydn cello concertos frame a delectable rarity: an arrangement for flute, two violins, viola, cello and fortepiano — clearly for domestic use - of Haydn's Symphony No. 104, made by Salomon, the concert organizer who brought Haydn to London.
This is enormous fun. After a strange, wiry ritual of an Adagio, played by strings and fortepiano, Florilegium lead the lithe, neatly turned Allegro on to an Andante in which the pair of violins mince their way along, before handing over to the flute who mischievously varies their theme. The finale returns, magically, to its Croatian roots, as the instruments sound a distant
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pastorale which turns into a robust rustic dance.
Wispelwey seems to look back over Haydn's shoulder to his baroque antecedents and, in the C major Concerto, to Vivaldi in particular. Florilegium's sound is bright, astringent, the chords assertive, articulation razor-sharp. But Wispelwey himself answers with a warmth and depth of tone which really sings through the first movement. In his own wonderfully fanciful cadenza, the theme serenades in pizzicato, then flies away like thistledown.
The central movement passes with the poise and grace of a courtly dance, just as the Adagio of the D major Concerto lives in an austere, sometimes elusive elegance. The finales of both concertos are airborne: the first a-bustle with accents and eager, unruly horns, and the second leaping ahead with newly toned muscle.
-- Gramophone [7/1995]
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Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Cello no 1 in C major, H 7b no 1 by Franz Joseph Haydn
Performer:
Pieter Wispelwey (Cello)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Florilegium Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: circa 1761-1765; Eszterhazá, Hungary
Date of Recording: 08/1994
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London
Length: 23 Minutes 12 Secs.
2.
Symphony no 104 in D major, H 1 no 104 "London" by Franz Joseph Haydn
Performer:
Rachel Podger (Violin),
Anna McDonald (Violin),
Rachel Byrt (Viola),
Daniel Yeadon (Cello),
Ashley Solomon (Flute),
Neal Peres Da Costa (Fortepiano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Florilegium Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: 1795; London, England
Date of Recording: 08/1994
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London
Length: 25 Minutes 8 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Johann Peter Salomon
3.
Concerto for Cello no 2 in D major, Op. 101/H 7b no 2 by Franz Joseph Haydn
Performer:
Pieter Wispelwey (Cello)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Florilegium Ensemble
Period: Classical
Written: 1783; Eszterhazá, Hungary
Date of Recording: 08/1994
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London
Length: 23 Minutes 41 Secs.
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