|
In its
development between the
baroque and the classical
ages, the instrumental
concerto displays an almost
confusing wealth and variety
of types. This record seeks
to embrace these many
aspects of the concerto in
three works that exemplify
the stylistic development of
this category of composition
and also the divergencies of
style between various
schools and various
individual composers. The
baroque solo and group
concerto, which had been
given a fixed form by
Vivaldi more than anyone
else and then accepted in
this form nearly everywhere
in Europe, began to
disintegrate around the
middle at the eighteenth
century. Where its form was
still preserved at first (as
in North Germany), the
traditional structures of
its movements and the
traditional characters of
its expression were burst
from within as it were, by
'galant‘ and sensitive
melody writing in the
uppermost voice. Whrere
composers attempted to
combine the newly developing
sonata form with the
concertante principle, they
frequently kept a firm hold
on baroque unity oi
expression, as if to
preserve something to hold
on to in all their
experiments with form, or
they transformed the
traditional concerto grosso
into the “concertante
symphony“, in which elements
of the baroque group
concerto and of the early
classical symphony were
blended with first
appearances of a specialized
virtuoso style. Thus there
arose between 1750 and 1780
an abundant variety of types
of instrumental concerto:
intimate post-baroque solo
concertos from the sphere of
courtly and bourgeois
amateur music-making,
complex group concertos and
concertante symphonies for
accomplished courtly
"professional orchestras"
and virtuoso solo concertos
tor the widest variety of
instruments, written to suit
individual travelling
artists. Three stages and
form types of this complex
process of development are
represented by the three
works on our record.
The Flute Concerto by Johann
Joachim Quantz, flute
teacher and court composer
to Frederick II of Prussia,
who wrote some 300 concertos
for the favourite instrument
of his king during his long
years of service at Potsdam,
follows Vivaldi's pattern in
its form but at the same
time distinctly bears the
mark of the post-baroque
'galant' style, particularly
in its outer movements. The
first movement, a march-like
Allegretto with the typical
small-period, punctilious,
sequential melodic writing
of the age, culminates in
its middle section - a
broadly laid out solo with
tutti interjections,
differentiated in the manner
of a development section;
tho merry Finale, almost a
dance in character, is
simpler and more
conventional in its lay-out.
The work's most substantial
section is the striking
Andante, a rapturously
earnest, densely worked
movemnt full of harmonic
subtleties and of a logic
and immediacy of expression
that raise it far above the
composer's day to day
output, which is often
rather superficially
composed.
Completely in the ‘galant'
style is the "Double
Concerto" by Haydn, which he
composed before 1766; it
stands on the borderline
between the solo concerto
and the concerto grosso. The
first movement, very similar
in style and character to
the opening movement of
Quantz's Flute Concerto,
lets the two solo
instruments partly compete
with one another, partly
join forces in parallel
thirds and fine, filigree
figuration against the
string orchestra, the left
hand of the harpsichord
still playing the role of
continuo. Alter this fresh,
uncomplicated quasi-march,
the Largo is surprisingly
serious and majestic in
character; the Finale, with
its arresting themes in
folk-song style and its
formal surprises - above all
the humourous five-bar
periods - is already quite
unmistakably "Haydnish",
providing a splendid
conclusion with its
combination of vitality,
humour and formai elegance.
The Symphonic Concertante by
Dittersdorf is somewhat more
substantial in effect than
this amiable and carefree
work of Haydn's youth, at
least in the first and
second movements. As an
orchestral musician and a
conductor at the courts oi
princes and bishops, the
composer had every
possibility of studying the
classical orchestra from the
bottom upwards. and so it is
no wonder that, alongside
the opera, the symphony
became his main field of
creative activity, and that
his works in this category
are unique in their wide
variety of forms and
instrumentations, even in
the ever-experimenting early
classical period. Among
Dittersdorf's many
symphonies with corrcertante
instruments, the one on this
record occupies a special
place on account of the
originality of its selection
of solo instruments. it was
presumably composed for a
particular virtuoso of the
double bass, who must have
been especially brilliant in
cantabile playing. In its
form, it is a regular
four-rnovement classical
symphony into whose
structural framework the
episodes of the solo
instruments have been
skillfully built. The first
movement, already a mature
"classical" sonata rnovement
with buoyant rhythms, begins
to occupy the soloists even
in the first subject, with a
melodious contrast motif;
the rapturous, sensitive and
gentle Andante employs the
double bass alone against
the string orchestra. The
robust Minuet in popular
style, with its merry horn
parts and a melodious Trio
played only by the soloists
is the most original
movement in the work, which
is then brought to a close
by an easy-going Finale in
tho spirit oi n "round
dance", which once more
makes the most of the
contrast between sonorous
tutti chords and solo
episodes - particularly the
double bass being used as a
melody instrument, against
its nature as it were - with
robust humour and playful
exuberance.
|
