Day 34: Piano Concertos, Denny’s, and Serendipity

HaydnCD34I love this music!

Today’s CD is a new beginning. Gone are Haydn’s symphonies. This morning starts Piano Concertos.

So what better place to be on a dark, chilly Sunday morning in November – in search of a new beginning – than a Denny’s restaurant?

Well, I suppose the case could be made that a beach in Tahiti with a tall, cool piña colada – served by an equally tall, cool island girl – beats where I’m sitting right now. But Denny’s runs a close second, right? (Admittedly, Kevin, our server, is tall. And he’s probably cool in his own way. But I am dubious that Kevin serving me a piña colada on a beach in Tahiti – or, anywhere, frankly – would have the same effect.)

The first composition on today’s CD is  Piano Concerto in D No. 11. (NOTE: The Hoboken-Verzeichnis system of cataloging Haydn’s compositions is used extensively for these concertos. The Hoboken-Verzeichnis system was named after Anthony van Hoboken, a collector and musicologist who lived to be 96 years of age, passing away in 1983.)

As usual when I start to explore a new type of music and its performers, I discover all sorts of things linking from other things. (The Internet is a blessing and a curse — a tremendous boon to people with insatiable curiosities…and a constant drain on said people’s bank accounts.)

For example: searching for information about the pianist (Yolanda Violante) on today’s CD, and the pianist (Paul Badura-Skoda) in the YouTube clip below, somehow lead me to the mind-blowing “Arthur Rubinstein The Complete Album Collection” boxed set, which consists of 144 discs for $101 (the price as of today’s date). I have no idea how I ended up on Amazon, or drooling on my keyboard in awe of the grandeur of this Rubinstein boxed set. But once I saw that collection, I immediately added it to my shopping cart.

One of my most beloved treasures is Rubinstein’s Chopin Collection. So, how could I possibly resist Arthur Rubinstein‘s complete recordings – touted “…as the world’s biggest CD edition for a solo artist, according to Guinness World Records”?

That’s what they call a rhetorical question. I couldn’t resist it. And didn’t.

But that’s what I love about doing this.

It is this serendipitous, circuitous discovery of tangental subjects that helps make these projects of mine worth it. Obviously, the direct benefit to what I’m doing now is listening to everything Haydn composed. That’s a reward in itself. But when I discover new soloists, orchestras, or sets of complete recordings (like the one for Rubinstein), my mind is blown.

I remember when I listened to Mozart’s complete recordings a couple of years ago I stumbled upon a web site/blog from a guy who quoted philosopher Wittgenstein. That spun me off to reading Wittgenstein, a interest of mine to this day.

And so it goes.

Today’s first composition (No. 11) was written between 1780 and 1783, according to Wiki. That means Haydn was between 48 and 51 years old.

The clip below is what No. 11 looks like when played by a renowned orchestra (Frans Bruggen, conductor) and pianist (Paul Badura-Skoda). NOTE: That’s not the version to which I’m listening this morning.

I’m listening to the Brilliant Classics Haydn Edition. Jolanda Violante is the soloist on the fortepiano, and Frederico Guglielmo is the soloist on the violin. The orchestra is L’Arte dell’Arco. These musicians are also top-notch. Their performances are inspired.

There’s something about how this CD was recorded that makes it sound like it was performed in a venue with brick walls. And I mean that in a good way. It has a “live” feel to it. When I listen to, say, Movement II (“Un poco adagio”) it feels like I’m there, watching these musicians perform.

According to the CD sleeve, this was recorded between April 18-20, 2008. So it’s a fairly recent recording. And, if the DDD in the lower right corner can be believed, it’s a 100% digital recording.

It is Movement III (“Rondo all’Ungarese: Allegro assai”) that steals the show in No. 11. Jolanda is extremely fleet fingered. I imagine there’s a lot of black on the music pages. A lot of notes. If Jolanda was a guitarist, I’d have to liken her to neo-classical shredmaster Yngwie Malmsteen. Notes everywhere.

The second concerto is Piano Concerto in G No. 4. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Wikipedia page for No. 4. The list of concertos by Haydn indicates that No. 4 was written in 1770. If true, Haydn was 38 years old.

This is precisely the version to which I’m listening this morning:

Same conductor. Same orchestra. Same soloists.

I must say, I like No. 11 better than No. 4. Not sure why. No. 11 just pushes all the right buttons for me. Not even the sprightly Movement III (“Rondo: presto”) could save this concerto for me.

Piano Concerto in F No. 3 doesn’t have a Wiki entry, either. But you can listen to it in this YouTube clip:

According to the list of Haydn concertos, No. 3 was written in 1771, which means Haydn was 39. The concerto is good, and the piano playing is remarkably accomplished. But No. 3 isn’t as captivating to me as No. 11, the first one I heard today.

I have another confession to make.

Serendipity struck again!

While searching for more information about Haydn Piano Concerto in F. No. 3 I discovered The Haydn Project, a web site “dedicated to promoting the keyboard music of the great Classical composer Joseph Haydn,” created by Cecily Lock, “the initiator and artistic director of the Haydn Keyboard Project.She studied piano at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and the Amsterdam Conservatory, where she is presently a pupil of Mila Baslawskaja. She is a graduate in music from St Hilda’s College, Oxford University. Her graduation thesis was on the topic of Haydn’s keyboard works.”

Her site is cool enough. So is her professional web site.

But Cecily listed on her site’s Links page a book about Haydn, written by J. Cuthbert Hadden, available as a free download on the Project Gutenberg web site. Once I was on the Gutenberg site, I searched for more Haydn books…and found a half dozen more, as well as books about other German and Austrian composers.

Jackpot!

And all thanks to Serendipity.

And Cecily Lock.

And, of course, F. Joseph Haydn.

1 thought on “Day 34: Piano Concertos, Denny’s, and Serendipity

  1. I’m glad you found the Haydn project, and some good books on Haydn. There had to be some out there! I’m glad serendipity led you to them.

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