Since the end of the
16th century many compositions have
been written for the cello. Among them
Joseph Haydn's two cello concertos stand
out because of their musical quality,
expressive qualities and the brilliance
of their solo parts. It isn't surprising
then that they are frequently performed
and recorded. This recording was originally
released in 1998 and has been reissued
by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi in its budget
series 'Splendeurs'. I am not sure this
was a good idea.
The cello concertos
were written at different moments in
Haydn's career. The Concerto in C is
from around 1761; the Concerto in D
in 1783. It is not quite clear for whom
the first concerto was written, but
the second was composed for Joseph Kraft,
a Bohemian-born cellist, who joined
the Esterházy orchestra in 1778.
There have always been doubts about
whether Haydn was in fact the composer.
Anner Bijlsma, in the liner notes to
his recording of Haydn's cello concertos
, suggests it could be the result of
a cooperation between Haydn and Kraft.
There can be no doubt, however, that
Haydn asked Kraft's advice while composing
the work.
In the liner notes,
Sigiswald Kuijken states that during
the time the Concerto in C was written,
the Esterházy orchestra was rather
small, with five to eight violins and
violas, just one cello, double bass,
flute and bassoon and a pair each of
oboes and horns. As the manuscript has
survived only in single parts for each
of the instruments, his conclusion is
that the concerto must have been performed
with a scoring of one instrument per
part. A later manuscript has extra copies
for the two violin parts and the bass
part, but only for the tutti sections,
which means that during the solo passages
the cello is accompanied by soloists.
And although, at the time the D-major
Concerto was written, the size of the
orchestra had expanded, Kuijken sees
reasons to believe that even here the
solo passages should be accompanied
one-to-a-part. So what we have here
is a contrast between a chamber-like
scoring in the solo passages and a double
scoring of all parts in the tutti.
Potentially this could
result in a very interesting and worthwhile
recording, which presents an alternative
to most existing recordings. Unfortunately
that is not the case. The main reason
is that the performance is rather boring.
In fact, although these concertos belong
to my favourites, and I always like
to hear them, I was bored stiff after
a while. Not only does the orchestra
seem completely uninspired, but - with
all due respect - what Hidemi Suzuki
is doing here is not making music, but
just playing notes. There is no doubt
that he is a good cellist, but not a
great one. Some passages sound uncomfortable,
as if it takes a lot of energy and attention
to play all the notes correctly. But
what is missing here is rhythmic flexibility,
a contrast in dynamics and a differentiated
interpretation of the solo part. Not
much is left of the wonderful expressiveness
of the Adagio of the C-major Concerto.
The second Concerto is a little better,
but only a little.
This is especially
disappointing as the last item on this
disc, the Sinfonia concertante, is given
a very fine performance. The Sinfonia
concertante was a very popular genre
in the second half of the 18th century.
Many composers wrote pieces of that
kind, mostly in two movements, and of
a rather light, divertimento-like nature.
Haydn's Sinfonia concertante isn't quite
comparable with these compositions,
though. It was one of the works he composed
during his first stay in London, in
1792. At that time a former pupil, Ignaz
Pleyel, was working in London, He had
written and performed a number of Sinfonie
concertanti with great success. It is
perhaps this which inspired Haydn to
contribute to the genre. The violin
part was intended to be performed by
Johann Peter Salomon, the German-born
violinist and impresario who had invited
Haydn to England. This explains the
prominence of the violin part, in comparison
to the parts for the cello, the oboe
and the bassoon. It was performed in
London with such great success that
it had to be repeated a week later.
And I wouldn't mind hearing this performance
a couple of times either! In particular
Ryo Terakado is impressive in his performance
of the violin part. We hear an orchestra
of the kind Haydn had at his disposal
in London. La Petite Bande is much better
than in the two cello concertos, where
the lacklustre performance of the soloist
seems to have been contagious.
It is a shame that
this recording as a whole is so uneven.
Recommending this disc for the Sinfonia
concertante only is a little unrealistic.
For the cello concertos my recommendations
would be Anner Bijlsma with Tafelmusik
(Deutsche Harmonia Mundi) and Pieter
Wispelwey with Florilegium (Channel
Classics).
Johan van Veen
Ryo Terakado, violin; Hidemi Suzuki, cello;
Patrick Beaugiraud, oboe; Marc Vallon, bassoon
