Word: haydn
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...defuse a bomb or Keanu Reeves to board a bus--not four smallish string players on the verge of completing a crescendo. And yet it was the very creation of anticipation by those four smallish string players that elevated the concert from music making to story telling. Adhering to Haydn's tenet that a modern string quartet "should engage the mind as well as the emotions," the Guarneri Quartet played a repertoire that alternated between being reflective and impetuous, sensual and contemplative. A standing ovation that included innumerable smiles and several open mouths spoke the result...
Many of these moments emerged in their first piece, Haydn's Quartet in D Major, Opus 20. The second movement, Un poco adagio affectuoso brought a confluence of musical constraint and emotional effervescence. In giving the upper melody to the cello, the bass line to the viola and a flirtation of rising and falling scale passages to the first and second violins, Haydn's piece created a mood that the quartet conveyed as sad, thoughtful and full of wonder. While the fourth movement, Presto e scherzando presented a direct contrast--with its expulsions of happiness in the form of harmonic...
Though Christmas time performances of Handel's Messiah abound in the greater Boston area, none could deny that the Handel and Haydn Societys annual production stands out from the usual "Hallelujah" shouting crowds. The H&H, as its aficionados fondly dub it, not only is the country's oldest continuously performing arts organization, dating from 1815, but has maintained the tradition of a December performance of Messiah every year since 1854. If last Sunday's rendition of Handel's 1753 version of Messiah is any indication, the H&H has not let its great musical heritage go to waste...
...Handel and Haydn Society, self-styled "America's Premier Chorus and Period Orchestra," features many interesting baroque instruments, several of which shone in solos in L'Allegro. A baroque flute, for example, enjoyed a lovely solo and interchange with Saffer in Part I, marred only by slight stumbling in the first few bars. The instrument, though held and played like a modern flute, is of black enamel, and considerably wider in diameter. Also fascinating were the horns, ancestors to the modern French horn, which had no stops and could only be played in the primary overtone series, manipulated...
Lovers of baroque music are encouraged to attend the Handel and Haydn Society's future offerings at Symphony Hall, including the second and third installments of their annual Handel vocal works series, this year Messiah in early December and Julius Caesar in late March. Other season highlights include Bach's Christmas Oratorio and a collaboration with jazz great Dave Brubeck and his sons...