PACM070 - Haydn Piano Trios

The chief source for this release was the c.1957 Westminster LP from which the above notes were taken - a particularly good copy of an excellent set of recordings, it was further enhanced by XR remastering. The final Trio, No. 23 in E flat, was sourced from a British HMV release, licensed by EMI from Westminster (it appeared on XWN 18611) as a side-two filler to the ensembles recording of Schubert's Trio No. 2 in E flat.

If anything, the earlier Westminster pressing was superior to the HMV disc, though both were pretty immaculate. The main difficulty faced here was simple identification of the trios - Haydn wrote a good number, and as with much of his output there is confusion both in terms of numbering, order of composition, and possibly even how many he actually wrote.

The numbering here is based on renowned Haydn scholar H. Robbins Landon's ordering, which bears no relation to the numbering on the LPs (which did not list the Hoboken numbers) - Westminster numbered these in the following order::, No 1, No. 28, No. 30 and No. 17. Finally, the first movement of Trio No. 23 is listed here as Allegro moderato, which is how it appears on a recent issue by the Beaux Arts Trio. It is marked on HMV's LP as Andante - yet the present tempo is noticeably swifter than that of the Beaux Arts...

Full Haydn biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Haydn

The Performers

Notes from Westminster LP XWN 18610

Chamber music performances by three great artists like JEAN FOURNIER, ANTONIO JANIGRO and PAUL BADURA-SKODA are outstanding events in the world of music, and the Westminster recordings by this trio have made news in the recording field. Music lovers in both hemispheres have been loud in their praise of this trio both for the amazing technical prowess of each artist and for the dedication with which they merge their talents to the service of their art.

PAUL BADURA-SKODA receives greater ovations each year. He has appeared hundreds of times in the U. S., both in solo recitals and with all major symphony orchestras, and toured in Europe, South and Central America, and Australia. Reviewing his Mozart Commemorative Recital at Town Hall in March 1956, and the Westminster recording of this actual performance, the Saturday Review said: "Badura-Skoda's emergence in the Mozart year as an interpreter of almost faultless taste and greatly varied pianistic resources is a tribute no more to his talent than it is to his serious purpose and capacity for growth.."

ANTONIO JANIGRO, one of the world's leading virtuoso, cellists, has toured all over the world, playing in solo recitals and with many of the major symphony orchestras. His recent coast-to-coast tour of the U.S. has played to sold-out houses and cheering audiences.

JEAN FOURNIER is celebrated throughout Europe and North Africa as one of the finest representatives of the French school of violin playing. He maintains a crowded schedule of solo recitals, chamber music performances, radio broadcasts, and solo appearances with the major symphony orchestras.

Haydn's Piano Trios

Notes from Wikipedia

This is a list of piano trios by Joseph Haydn, including the chronological number assigned by H. C. Robbins Landon and the number they are given in Anthony van Hoboken's catalogue of his works.

Haydn's early trios are considered minor works and are seldom played except in the context of complete editions. In contrast, the later trios, starting in the mid 1780's, reflect the composer's full musical maturity and are greatly admired by critics (see below).

The role of the instruments

The piano trios of Haydn are dominated by the piano part. The violin only plays the melody a certain amount of the time, and is often doubled by the piano when it does. The cello part is very much subordinated, usually just doubling the bass line in the piano. Charles Rosen discusses and defends this asymmetry, relating it to the sonority of the instruments of Haydn's day: the piano was fairly weak and "tinkling" in tone, and benefited from the tonal strengthening of other instruments.

Assessment

The dominance of the piano part does not imply that the late trios are not of the highest quality. Rosen devotes an entire chapter of his well-known book The Classical Style to them, noting that Haydn's trios are "along with the Mozart concertos the most brilliant piano works before Beethoven." Gretchen Wheelock refers to the trios as "incredible", adding "the late works especially are brilliantly virtuosic, exploiting the full idiomatic range of the instrument [i.e., the piano]. They are also among the most harmonically adventurous of his works in any genre, often reaching into remote keys via enharmonic modulations. As such they are challenging essays for both players and listeners."

Early trios

No. 1 in F major, Hoboken 15/37
No. 2 in C major, Hoboken 15/C1
No. 3 in G major, Hoboken 14/6
No. 4 in F major, Hoboken 15/39
No. 5 in G minor, Hoboken 15/1
No. 6 in F major, Hoboken 15/40 (exists with a different slow movement as the piano concerto Hob. 18/7)
No. 7 in G major, Hoboken 15/41
No. 8 in D major, Hoboken 15/33 (lost)
No. 9 in D major, Hoboken 15/D1 (lost)
No. 10 in A major, Hoboken 15/35
No. 11 in E major, Hoboken 15/34
No. 12 in E flat major, Hoboken 15/36
No. 13 in B flat major, Hoboken 15/38
No. 14 in F minor, Hoboken 15/f1
No. 15 in D major, Hoboken 15/deest
No. 16 in C major, Hoboken 14/C1
No. 17 in F major, Hoboken 15/2