Haydn London Symphonies, Vol. 1: No. 101 ‘The Clock’; No. 103 ‘Drum Roll’ Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/Paavo Järvi RCA Red Seal 19658807412 54:32 mins
To listen to Haydn’s late symphonies is to marvel anew at their inventiveness, and their seemingly endless supply of surprises in terms of sudden changes in direction and unexpected contrasts of instrumentation. Paavo Järvi is good at bringing out the music’s humour: the delicate violin solo in the slow movement of the ‘Drum Roll’ Symphony No. 103 (it would have been played by Johann Peter Salomon, the instigator of Haydn’s London visits in the 1790s), followed immediately by deafening trumpet and drum fanfares; or the long passage in the second movement of the ‘Clock’ Symphony No. 101 where the tick-tock motion is transferred to a flute and bassoon playing more than two octaves apart, while the strings are confined to just the first violins.
Mind you, Järvi’s clock runs very fast: for all its wit, this is music that needs much more elegance and gracefulness than his impatient speed allows. He is unduly hasty in the finale of the ‘Drum Roll’, too, where much of the music’s detail and articulation are lost in what becomes scampering passagework.
On the other hand, there’s a welcome touch of warmth in Järvi’s handling of the minuet movements: the lingering, nostalgic account of the rustic trio in the ‘Clock’, or the tinge of romanticism introduced in the second half of the minuet in the ‘Drum Roll’, where the music takes a gentle plunge into a wholly unexpected key. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie of Bremen is on its toes throughout, and the recording does the playing full justice.
Misha Donat
