Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn
Performer: Pellegrini Quartett
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: CPO
Catalogue: 777173-2
Release: 2008
Size: 628 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
String Quartet, Op. 20 No. 2 in C Major
01. I. Moderato
02. II. Capriccio: Adagio
03. III. Minuet: Allegretto
04. IV. Fuga a quattro soggetti
String Quartet, Op. 20 No. 5 in F minor
05. I. Allegro moderato
06. II. Menuetto
07. III. Adagio
08. IV. Finale: Fuga a due soggetti
String Quartet, Op. 20 No. 4 in D major ‘Sun’
09. I. Allegro di molto
10. II. Un poco adagio affetuoso
11. III. Menuetto: Allegretto alla zingarese
12. IV. Presto scherzando
CD 02
String Quartet, Op. 20 No. 6 in A Major
01. I. Allegro di molto e scherzando
02. II. Adagio
03. III. Menuet
04. IV. Fuga con tre soggetti
String Quartet, Op. 20 No. 3 in G minor
05. I. Allegro con spirito
06. II. Menuetto: Allegretto
07. III. Poco adagio
08. IV. Allegro molto
String Quartet, Op. 20 No. 1 in E flat major
09. I. Allegro moderato
10. II. Minuet: Un poco Allegretto
11. III. Affetuoso e sostenuto
12. IV. Finale: Presto
By Op. 20, Haydn was securing his historic legacy as the Father of the String Quartet. This notoriety of his advancement of the genre was appreciated and recognized quite clearly in his own time, though to our modern ears, very little of the music of Op. 20 sounds terribly progressive or experimental. Haydn, however, used Op. 20 as a sort of testing ground for all sorts of techniques ranging from sophisticated rhythmic figurations, textures, interdependence, and independence of the four instruments and tonality itself. Like many works with familiar subtitles, the “Sun Quartets” title came not from Haydn but from a publisher. The name has endured the test of time, and the liner notes for this particular album go into a great deal of discourse as to its appropriateness. On this two-disc SACD recording, the Pellegrini-Quartett offers a performance of these important works that gives listeners almost everything they need. The ensemble has a clear academic understanding of the advancements with which Haydn was experimenting and even highlights these techniques to listeners. Intonation is generally solid, although there are certainly some times when this gets away from the group. The overall sound, however, is not necessarily completely Haydn-esque. As the music becomes busier and more intricate, the tone becomes more labored and cautious, robbing listeners of what could have been a much more spontaneous and open performance.
Haydn’s chamber music centres on his 68 string quartets, a genre of which he was more nearly the literal ‘father’ than the symphony. Haydn’s six Sun Quartets Op. 20 concluded the astonishing series of eighteen works with which Haydn laid the foundations of the classical string quartet and was a decisive factor in the establishment of the composer’s fame. Together with the Quartets op. 17 composed during the previous year, the Quartets op. 20 operated on a level that no Haydn contemporary could even come close to matching, and it would not be exaggerating to rank this collection as one of the most manifold, most experimental, and most enthralling of the eighteenth century. Opp.9, 17 and 20 established the four-movement form with two outer fast movements, a slow movement and a minuet (although in this period the minuet usually precedes the slow movement). They also – op.20 in particular – established the larger dimensions, higher aesthetic pretensions and greater emotional range that were to characterize the genre from this point onwards. They are important exemplars of Haydn’s Sturm und Drang manner.