Today’s CD of Haydn compositions is Organ Concertos II.

You know what that means.

More circus music.

And more “mechanical clocks” music.

An example of the latter: track number 10 is 12 minutes of what sounds to my untrained ears like circus Calliope music. I can almost smell the roasting almonds and cotton candy…and the manure from the performing animals.

And, wait. What’s that I hear? Children laughing? Do I see parents strolling with umbrellas and large hats?

It’s like a George Seurat painting come to life, something like the scene from his pointillist masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

I’m sure Flotenuhr (“mechanical clocks”) music has its place.

It probably excited the hell out of audiences back in the late 1700s.

Today, I think 12 minutes of Flotenuhr music is about 10 minutes too much of it.

But what do I know? I’m not a composer. I’m a listener. In 21st century America, no less. If I had the talent to compose, I surely would. But then I’d have to do something crazy like lop off my ear, or starve like all artists do in their own lifetimes.

Hmm. Maybe I am a artist.

Yet, both ears are intact.

So, okay, maybe I’m not a very good artist.

Overheard comments this morning at Panera…

 

An older guy gets up from his booth.

 

He says: “My back is like Rice Krispies this morning – snap, crackle, and pop!”

 

An older gentleman walking past at that moment says over his shoulder: “And It doesn’t get any better.”

Humor. Makes the world go ’round, doesn’t it?

There are 13 tracks representing five different compositions on today’s CD:

Double Concerto for Violin and Organ in F No. 6 (1766)

Organ Concerto in C No. 8 (1766)

Organ Concerto in C No. 10 (1771)

Flotenuhr 1792

Organ Concerto in F No. 7 (composition date unknown)

With the exception of one (violinist Susanne Scholz), the performers are the same as on the previous CD:

Anton Holzapfel, organ
Ensenble Dolce Risonanza, on period instruments
Florian Wieninger

The recordings are first rate. The performances are superb. And the length of this CD is over 74 minutes. So there’s plenty of music here to enjoy, especially at the price charged by Brilliant Classics – about 80 cents per disc for the Haydn Edition box set (as of today’s date). For the money, I don’t think there’s a better value in Classical music on the market.

Two of today’s compositions stand out to me, so I’ll only post YouTube clips of those performances.

Double Concerto for Violin and Organ in F No. 6:

Flotenuhr 1792:

The former is lively and entertaining. The interplay between the organ and the violin is delightfully fun.

The latter is, as I mentioned above, circus-like and quirky. It’s hard to believe that Haydn was 60 when he composed this mechanical clocks piece. Maybe he did so to keep his mind playful, his outlook child-like, so that he could continue to plumb the depths of his creativity?