Gary Cooper is a specialist in using original keyboards or modern
copies of the corresponding period. Here he uses a fortepiano
by an anonymous maker from the period around 1785. For the
uninitiated the fortepiano sound is very different to that
of the modern grand piano that would typically be used today.
Some listeners will undoubtedly find the fortepiano a refreshing
change favouring the authenticity of the sound that Haydn
would have been familiar with. However, the sound will certainly
not be to everyone's taste. I
am a devotee of performances on period instruments, although,
I can understand why the fortepiano was felt
by many as an instrument most deserving of improvement;
consequently falling out of favour. I
have heard fortepianos that at times
have sounded like a cross between a pub piano and a banjo.
Here Cooper's carefully chosen Viennese instrument has a
distinctive yet rich and appealing timbre; never harsh and
abrasive. For this
recording I was fascinated to read how he has, "
decided
to use late C18th tuning with which Haydn and his contemporaries
would have been totally familiar." (‘
Haydn’,
Pellegrini and Cudahy, New York (1902))
A keyboard player himself, Haydn wrote some fifty piano sonatas over
a period of some thirty-five years, from 1760 to about 1795.
He ceased composing in the genre fourteen years before his
death unlike his fellow Vienna-based contemporaries Mozart,
Beethoven and Schubert who all continued to write sonatas
up to the end of their lives. Arguably the piano sonata was
not always as successful a medium for him as the string quartet
and the symphony. Notwithstanding, Haydn’s finest works in
the sonata genre contain some remarkable music and rank with
the best composed before Beethoven’s piano music took centre-stage.
Biographer James Cuthbert Hadden has written, “
Haydn,
building on Emanuel Bach (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach)
,
fixed the present form, improving so largely upon the earlier,
that we could pass from his sonatas directly to those of
Beethoven without the intervention of Mozart’s as a connecting
link. Beethoven’s sonatas were certainly more influenced
by Haydn’s than by Mozart’s.”
The opening score on the release, the
Sonata in C Major, Hob.XVI:48
was composed in 1789. This together with the
Sonata in
E Flat Major, Hob.XVI:49 formed a pair for Breitkopf
of Leipzig; issued as part of the set titled
Musikalischer
Pot-Pourri. Cast in two movements the C major opens with
an
Andante con espressione which is a set of variations
alternating between major and minor. The movement consists
of intensely brooding music of searching introspection. There
are a few slight episodes of a brighter and more optimistic
disposition. The second movement is a brilliant
Rondo
- Presto, confident and high-spirited.
In 1797 Haydn composed the melody to the anthem
Gott erhalte Franz
den Kaiser (
God Save Franz the Emperor) sometimes
known as the
Kaiserhymne (
Emperor’s Hymn).
The melody was at one time the Imperial Austrian anthem
and is currently the national anthem of the Federal Republic
of Germany. Contained in the footnotes to this review is
a short history of the old Imperial Austrian and German
national anthems (see footnote). The melody was clearly
loved by Haydn and he used it as the basis for the theme
and set of variations of the
Poco adagio movement
of his
Kaiserquartett (
Emperor)
String
Quartet in C major, Op. 76/3, Hob.III:77.
Haydn transcribed the slow movement theme and variations from the
Emperor
Quartet for piano as the
Variations in G major, ‘
Gott
erhalte’ published in 1799 by Artaria. This is compelling
playing by Cooper in the
G Major Variations which
have a splendid sense of fragility and vulnerability.
The
Sonata in E Flat Major, Hob.XVI:49 composed in 1789/90
is the companion work to the
Sonata in C Major, Hob.XVI:48.
Cast in three movements the score was intended for his close
friend Marianne von Genziger the wife of the physician to
the Esterházy family. A noble dignity with the addition of
essential vitality suffuses the opening
Allegro and
the performance of the
Adagio e cantabile is warmed
by beauty and grace. There is brisk and bright playing from
Cooper
in the
Finale - Tempo di Minuet which has a most refreshing
and airy quality.
Regarded by many as Haydn’s most famous single piano score the
Variations
in F minor, Hob.XVII:6 was possibly intended as the
first movement of a sonata and later renamed as
Sonata -
Un
piccolo Divertimento. The
F minor Variations were
composed in 1793 and published in Vienna in 1799. My published
Verlag edition contains the inscription that the score
was composed for Barbara von Ployer also bearing a dedication
to Baroness Josefine von Braun. It has been suggested that
the news of the death of Marianne von Genzinger in 1793
inspired the score and maybe drove Haydn to add at the
last minute a heart-breaking
Coda section. Haydn
biographer Rosemary Hughes considers the score as, “
one
of his finest alternating-variation works.” (‘
Haydn’, ‘
The
Master Musicians’
series, J. M. Dent, London
(1950)). Cooper remarks how his chosen tuning system on
the fortepiano, “…
comes even more into its own when
used in the F minor Variations…”
Throughout the
F minor Variations the breadth of colour in
Haydn’s writing is quite remarkable. Cooper’s assured playing
here imparts a dour rather funereal gloom with the second
theme in F major expressing a more consoling and relaxing
quality. In the substantial
Coda I was struck by a
certain rhapsodic anguish that ultimately disintegrates to
a peaceful conclusion. It is remarkable is how Cooper pushes
the fortepiano to the extremes of its dynamic limits whilst
never losing control.
The concluding work on the disc is the
Sonata in E Flat Major,
Hob.XVI:52. Completed in 1794 the E Flat major score is often
acknowledged as his finest in the genre.
Haydn’s final
sonata published in 1798 by Artaria in Vienna bears a dedication
to Magdalene von Kurzbeck. For its London publication in
1799 it appeared with a dedication to the pianist Therese
Jansen. Cooper plays the opening
Allegro with great
flair and richly dramatic energy. The
Adagio is charming
and sensitive and one senses that the soloist is reaching
deep inside the music. Bustling with life and vitality in
the
Finale - Presto he demonstrates adroit changes
of pace and bold dynamic contrasts.
These performances are imperious. This notwithstanding the sound of
the fortepiano will be an acquired taste for some. For those
wanting to hear a selection of Haydn solo piano music on
a modern grand piano I can suggest the thoughtful and intuitive
performances of real distinction from Alfred Brendel on
Philips
475 7185.
As an alternative one cannot go wrong with the super budget-priced
series of the complete Haydn piano sonatas on 10 CDs from
Jenő Jandó on Naxos 8.501042.
Jandó’s extremely consistent performances are impressive
and display a confident directness of style.
The recorded sound from Doopsgezinde Kerk, Deventer is outstanding
and the booklet contains a splendid essay written by the
pianist. For those that are interested in these things the
total timing is actually a generous 77:52 not the stated
67:70. Haydn’s keyboard works offer numerous delights and
certainly deserve to be better known.
These are excellent accounts from Gary Cooper performed on the fortepiano.
Michael Cookson
Footnote: Haydn’s melody known as the
Kaiserhymne (
Emperor’s
Hymn) also known as the
Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser (
God
Save Franz the Emperor) was composed in 1796/97 with
a text by Lorenz Leopold Haschka. The
Kaiserhymne was
conceived to celebrate the birthday of Franz II, the emperor
of the Holy Roman Empire. It was so successful that it
became the Imperial Austrian anthem until the fall of the
Austrian monarchy in 1918. The melody with words written
by Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1841 was appropriated
as the national anthem of Germany in 1922 known as
Das
Deutschlandlied (
The Song of Germany, also known
as
Das Lied der Deutschen (
The Song of the Germans).
From 1933-45 during the Third Reich the first verse of
Das
Deutschlandlied and the National Socialist
Horst-Wessel-Lied were
sung together as the national anthem of Germany. Not surprisingly
the anthem became politically compromised owing to its
Nazi associations. From 1952 West Germany (Federal Republic
of Germany) adopted the melody as its national anthem singing
only the third verse; with East Germany (German Democratic
Republic) having its own national anthem. In 1991 the third
verse of
Das Deutschlandlied became the national
anthem of the reunified Federal Republic of Germany
Gary Cooper
(fortepiano) 
[77:51] 
