Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
Organ Concerto No.1 in C, Hob.XVIII:1 [23:42]
Organ Concerto No.2 in D, Hob.XVIII:2 [25:43]
Organ and Violin Concerto No.6 in F, Hob.XVIII:6 [20:03]
Iain Quinn (organ)
Sophie Gent (violin)
Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen
rec. 2019, St Mary’s Church, South Woodford, London
CHANDOS CHAN20118 [69:41]
A lot of uncertainty surrounds the keyboard concertos of Haydn, not the least area of doubt being precisely for which solo instrument each of the concertos was originally intended. This was, after all, a time of transition from the loose term “clavier” to an awareness of the unique qualities of each specific keyboard instrument, be it the harpsichord, the piano or the organ. Haydn, probably never suspecting that 200 years after his death, his concertos would still be being performed, never specified on paper his intended solo instrument, and it has been left to subsequent generations of scholars and musicologists to deduce from both the writing and the historical context of each work (so far as it is known) what was the probable instrument Haydn had in mind. Here we have three early concertos (a fourth, Concerto No.10 in C is available as a download from the Chandos site) which in 1970 Haydn scholar, Georg Feder, decided were probably intended for the organ. Scholars can argue if they like, but these performances provide pretty powerful evidence that, if nothing else, the organ is wholly suited to these concertos.
Iain Quinn’s fluent, airy articulation coupled with the crisp playing of Arcangelo seem perfect for this music, and Haydn’s spirited, witty and invigorating writing is certainly greatly enhanced by the bright and bubbly sound of organ and strings, with a couple of modern oboes thrown in to the outer movements of the first Concerto. Supporting evidence for Feder’s assertion comes from the limited compass of the solo keyboard writing and the fact that all these concertos appear to date from the 1750s when Haydn was still based in Vienna and associated with the city’s St Stephen’s Cathedral. Quinn’s lively virtuosity gives no hint that the solo keyboard range is in any way restricted, and his light registrations, making much of the higher pitched stops (particularly effectively done in the elegant slow movement of the D major Concerto) neatly side-step any hint of limited compass. As for these being early works, they reveal not only a deft and highly mature handling of the musical material, which in itself is often quite imaginative and unfailingly attractive, but reveal many of the characteristics which were to make Haydn such an enormously popular composer in his own maturity and beyond.
There is a level of unity between Jonathan Cohen and Quinn which results in unusually well-integrated performances; that sense of detachment which so often undermines music where organ and orchestra combine is completely absent, giving these performances every bit the same sense of intimacy we might expect were they to be played on the fortepiano or harpsichord. Using gut strings, the violins of Arcangelo add a pleasing touch of graininess to this, while Quinn’s suitably improvisatory cadenzas dovetail perfectly.
Concerto No.6 is a double concerto for violin and organ, and again both the physical and interpretative unity between Quinn and Sophie Gent greatly enriches this perceptive and enticing performance. I particularly like Quinn’s choice of solo stops both to contrast and balance Gent’s violin tone, and the cadenzas are impeccably coordinated.
Marc Rochester
