H+H goes all Haydn

In an interesting conceit, this past weekend, H+H put on an all-Haydn program. In lesser hands, it would have been too much, but for them it worked. Starting with one of his early works, the Symphony number 8 is “typical” Haydn: lovely, “easy listening” classical music that one assumes was meant to entertain the guests of Count Esterhazy without asking too much of them. An interesting feature was the showcasing of several different instruments in a “concertante” style. After the stage was largely cleared we heard the Violin Concerto #3, featuring the electric Aisslinn Nosky as soloist and leader of the twelve string players. Unlike concertos from Beethoven on, the soloist was not clearly separated physically and musically from the ensemble. Ms Nosky played along with the violins during the orchestral part and then had her own moments to shine in virtuosic solos. After intermission was a brief performance: the Overture to one of Haydn’s many operas, Armida, This was, as would be expected for the genre, more dramatic than most of Papa Haydn’s opus. It also opened up a new world to me. Before today I would never have guessed that Haydn wrote 15 operas. These are rarely performed, and not because they lack quality but because in his day he was overshadowed by Mozart, and today probably because in a circular fashion, they are so little known that producers worry they will not fill the halls. The final piece of the program was one of Haydn’s later works, Symphony #84, one of the Paris Symphonies. This work, much more musically complex that Number 8, showed off Haydn’s growth over the years. A lovely performance, fitting tribute to one of H+H’s namesakes.