Jeremy Limb
@jlimb
Lustlacker. Drivellista. Parked wonkily - or, rather, wonked Parkily. Here's all my nonsense:
For many listeners, it's this sort of thing that puts them off Haydn. Cos GREAT music is SERIOUS and must end with some GRAND STATEMENT or other, mustn't it? Must it? All I know is: sorry K491 but if it's a choice between your endless string of im/perfect cadences and THIS, I know which way I jump
That's right; how d'you get from Db to Eb? Why, by sliding through D, that's how! Again, this is Beethoven avant le lettre, and a lot breezier. And, to cap it, when he reaches this moment in the recap, he has less of a harmonic gulf to cross (Db to Cm)... but ADDS a bar anyway!
I'm not here to slag Wolfgang off; as I've said it's invidious to compare the two composers who, touchingly, were as fond of each other as any two geniuses ever have been. But it seems unfair that K491 is programmed incessantly and music like this never gets played:
Anyway, it starts like this; and it has been pointed out that it anticipates Mozart's Piano Concerto in the same key, K491. Ah yes, the great K491, so deep, so sublime...
... or this "wrong" note in the sublime slow movement, which much later diverts the music to an unexpected key... *cough*Beethoven 8*cough*...
Plus his orchestral writing is masterful! Haydn doesn't get enough credit for this, but he was as cutting edge as Berlioz in his time. Check out this string writing! I'd honestly never heard anything quite like it before.
And there are some meltingly beautiful ensembles; here are a couple of choice moments from a duet and a trio but there are loads more
Even the more formulaic stuff has interest - look at this mental tenor solo... (in the recording he did a top D, too, descending over 2 octaves in 2 bars)
I tweeted this over 8 years ago. Of course I've reconsidered my words since then... These days I would add "anyone who doesn't like Elgar: I will never respect your opinion about ANYTHING"
I'm sure this is being put on at the Savoy because it is artistically excellent
It's the same length as Beethoven's 9th Symphony, but weirdly not as many fart gags. Genuinely. www.patreon.com/posts/potom-...