Thomas Albertus Irnberger (violin), Barbara Moser (fortepiano); Munich Chamber Philharmonic/Franz Schottky
Gramola 99308 (CD/SACD) 55:31 mins
When Haydn drew up a draft catalogue of his works, he listed the C major Violin Concerto as having been ‘fatto per il Luigi’. The description is used as the heading for this new album’s booklet, where it is helpfully translated as ‘made for the Luigi’.
The person in question was Luigi Tomasini, the leader of Prince Esterházy’s orchestra for nearly half a century. Judging by the virtuoso demands of both this concerto and the G major work recorded here he must have been a remarkably capable player. These pieces date from the early 1760s, before Haydn became a great composer, though they’re not without their attractions.
The bulk of the slow movement in the C major concerto, for instance, is a serenade, with the soloist unfolding a long-spun melody to a pizzicato accompaniment from the orchestral strings in imitation of a guitar; and the passages featuring the soloists in the Adagio of the double concerto for violin and keyboard are written in similar fashion. The restricted compass of the keyboard part in the latter work suggests that Haydn may have intended it for a chamber organ, though the fortepiano used here works well enough.
The two solo concertos have a continuo part for harpsichord which sounds rather intrusive in the slow movement of the C major concerto, but so discreet as to be virtually inaudible throughout the companion work. Barbara Moser is an accomplished keyboard soloist in the double concerto, but Thomas Albertus Irnberger’s violin playing is utilitarian throughout and his cadenzas in the solo concertos are far too long. This is music that needs more persuasive advocacy than it gets here.
