The title of today’s CD (Haydn CD 131) is “Baryton Trios (Appendix).”

At the outset, I have no idea why.

But I’ll tell you this: the music makes me feel sophisticated and smart. It has a sweet, almost melancholy feel to it.

And something more than that, as I’ll mention shortly.

As I listen to this CD, I see that it’s a collection of very short passages of music, the very definition of “snippet.”

One track (#13) is only nine seconds long.

Yes, I wrote nine seconds.

This hodgepodge of short works that have survived down through the centuries are like appendices in books – supplemental material at the end. Hence the name of today’s CD.

Listening to these selections is a haunting experience.

I feel like I’m peeking inside Haydn’s head, hearing little bursts of his thoughts, stray notes like birds on a wire, random, purposeless. Mere ideas, quite unfinished – like a conversation that begins and trails off.

Tracks 30-42, especially, are absolutely engrossing. The echo/reverb on the instrument playing each piece – which ends a few seconds after it begins – gives these tiny passages of music a dream-like quality.

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