70806 for PDF 11/05 - Ivory Classics

Franz Joseph Haydn
Nadia Reisenberg
The Acclaimed Haydn Recordings (2 CD Set)
Haydn’s Piano Works
“I acknowledge with pleasure the desire of many
music lovers to own a complete edition of my piano
compositions,” wrote Franz Joseph Haydn in 1799,
“and I shall see to it that in this collection no work
which wrongly bears my name will be included.”
The collection he referred to was subsequently published
in twelve volumes, between 1800 and 1806
under the enticing, if erroneous title “Oeuvres completes.”
Actually, Haydn was the chief culprit in that
misnomer, since by his own admission, he not only
removed spurious compositions, but deleted as well
“those works of my early youth which are not worth
preserving.”
Later generations, of course, were not at all ready
to discard any of the master’s works so cavalierly, and
the number of Sonatas which indeed comprise
Haydn’s “complete works” has been revised upwards
on several occasions. The original 1800-06 edition contained thirty-four piano sonatas. A collection
edited by Hugo Riemann, and published in London in 1895, added five more. In 1918, the
now standard Karl Päsler edition listed fifty-two sonatas. Nor is the accounting yet complete: in
1966, a newly published Vienna Urtext edition has upped the total again to sixty-two (including a
fragment of a sonata previously considered lost, and several scores freshly discovered in Viennese
and Moravian archives). The miscellaneous pieces by Haydn did not fare as well. Many were lost
and less than twenty works are extant. Of these, Nadia Reisenberg’s recital assembles four sets of
variations and two superb miniatures – the Fantasia and the Capriccio – on which alone Haydn’s
reputation as a piano composer could safely rest.
Since Haydn considered his keyboard sonatas to be among his minor compositions, he took
little care to document them for posterity. The Sonata No.13 in G Major (Hob.XVI:6) was
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published with five other sonatas in 1766 when the composer was thirty-four years old and in the
service of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. The Sonata No.13 in G Major, for Haydn still an early work,
follows the style current in Vienna in the middle seventeen hundreds. In some editions it is entitled
“Partita” and in others “Divertimento.” The opening Allegro presents three melodies in succession
accompanied congenially by the left hand; it could well be considered as a violin solo with clavier
accompaniment and, in fact, Haydn arranged many of his keyboard sonatas for that combination.
The second movement is a graceful Minuetto with a central Trio in the minor; the minuet was
always a favorite of Haydn’s and, although he later speeded it up to almost scherzo proportions, in
this early sonata it still maintains the gallant rhythms of the dance. The Adagio which follows
reminds one of a Bach Arioso: a slow ornate melody above chords. The sonata ends with a fourth
movement – Allegro molto – in two parts, each repeated in the manner of Scarlatti.
The Fantasia in C Major (Hob.XVII:4), composed in 1789, in some editions is also called
“Capriccio.” Biographer Rosemary Hughes calls this work “bewilderingly free in structure,” while
Karl Geiringer could “hear in this piece the tone of violins and double basses, of horns and flutes;
moreover a rapid crossing of the hands, the arpeggios, and the distribution of passages between the
two hands exhibit the composer’s concern for purely pianistic devices. The effect that Haydn
achieved by holding notes in the bass until they die away (tenuto intanto finche non si pente più il
sono) is rather notable. This fantasia was written by a master who exploited the possibilities of piano
technique in transcribing ideas of an essentially orchestral nature.” The marking is simply Presto.
After an interval in B flat there are two long stretches of profligate modulation around a central section
in A. The prodigal C comes home abruptly, and with even more telling effect than it had made
in taking leave many pages earlier.
The Sonata No.62 in E-flat Major (Hob.XVI:52) was composed in 1794. It affirms its stature
with the very opening chords – dramatic punctuations that set the stage for an unraveling of music
in the grand style. This is, perhaps the most adventurous of all of the sonatas – with its extraordinary
harmonic design, its forays into near-romantic expressionism, its nobility of spirit. Its key relationships
are remarkable, not only in terms of the striking modulations within movements, but also
in the fact that the middle Adagio is daringly cast in E major – poles apart, harmonically speaking,
from the outer movements in E flat. This slow movement stands as well among the loftiest examples
of Haydn’s art – it contains music of grandeur, profundity and extraordinary warmth. By contrast,
the Finale is a whirlwind Presto, brimming over with elan and that zesty impertinence which
marks Haydn at his most ingratiating.
The Tema con Variazioni in C Major (Hob.XVII:5) of 1791 permits itself a modicum
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of temerity. The dolce theme, restrained and lovely, is set
forth Andante. In the first four chapters that follow, the story
does not change harmonically. With Variation V we are
plunged suddenly into the dark waters of C minor, thence to
E flat, and so forth until, at the end, we find ourselves poised
in G. Variation VI, not unnaturally, is strongly tonic. The
great innovator is not ashamed to give the last word to a C
major chord.
The Sonata No.50 in D Major (Hob. XVI:37), published
in 1780, is a highly expressive work. By 1780 Haydn had
acquired an international reputation. The King of Spain had
sent him a jewelled snuffbox, Lord Abingdon urged him to
visit England for a season, Ferdinand IV of Naples desired to
see him in Italy, and the future Empress of Russia insisted
that he instruct her in singing. Haydn, however, was hampered
absolutely by his position with Prince Esterhazy, who
Nadia Reisenberg, 1920s had no intention of allowing his Kapellmeister to leave his
estate to entertain anyone else. The most that Haydn was
granted were occasional short visits to Vienna where he was heralded by an intrigued group of lower
nobility and wealthy middle class patrons, among whom were the sisters Auenbrugger. It was for
these ladies that Haydn wrote his Sonata No.50 in D Major. Concerning the sisters he wrote to his
publisher Artaria: “The approval of the Misses von Auenbrugger is most important to me, because
both their technique and their genuine understanding of the art of music are equal to the greatest
masters’. Both deserve to become known throughout Europe by music published in their honor.”
The sonata is constructed in three movements. The first, Allegro con brio, light and rapid as it is,
progresses by changes in mood rather than by the introduction of new material. The music is unified
and seems to belong on the piano. The middle Largo is rather like a sarabande and one of the
most unsettled slow movements in the writing of a composer who was famous for his moving adagios.
The mood is intensified by the absence of a pause before the final Presto: a good-humored
movement, but by no means merely showy.
The Arietta con Variazioni in A Major (Hob.XVII:2) dates from 1771. It has come down to us
with nineteen variations, although the Haydn-Elssler thematic index lists twenty, the Oeuvres completes
eighteen, and Artaria only twelve. The Landesbibliothek in Weimar has a score with twenty,
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ut not including the No.10 in the Artaria sequence; the minimum total of variations composed is
therefore twenty-one. Nineteen is today accepted as standard, however, two having been killed by
the composer according to scholarly consensus. Stylistically the work tends to simulate the gracefully
galant manner of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who was Haydn’s hero-prototype. The dulcet,
folk-like theme is announced Allegretto quasi Andantino. At no time from then forward is there any
departing the tonic. Several of the variations are especially delightful: III for its darting sixteenth
patterns, V for its crossed-hands cleverness, VIII for its elfin scherzando character, X for its fantastic
prophecy of Petrouchka, XI for its canonic by-play, XV for its feathery leggierro, the usually missing
XVII for its minuetishly Mozartean ways, the final XIX for its Ländler charm.
The Sonata No.53 in e minor (Hob.XVI:34) is dated January 15, 1784. Haydn was then under
the spell of a then new, mostly literary, movement known as Sturm und Drang. (The official translation
of this term is “Storm and Stress,” however, a perhaps better translation of this term might
be “Storm and Urge”.) The language of the opening movement, marked Presto, gives us a glimpse
into the future, music that is hovering over the borderline which separates the Here from the
Beyond, the darkness, the brooding, the questioning, and in the second movement (Adagio ) the
long and lonely meditation. The last movement (Molto vivace) is, on the strength of its theme alone,
one continued urging question, gaining in urgency as it speeds along. The closing phrases of this
movement, reveal Haydn as the unerring – still classical – master of equilibrium. Their sheer gracefulness
seems to turn the entire question into a lofty play, so that the work’s final chord releases us
with a smile.
The Capriccio in G Major (“Acht Sauschneider müssen sein”) (Hob.XVII:1) is a longish rondo,
originally written in 1765. It reappeared in 1788 with a designation of Opus 43. A year later, Haydn
wrote to his publisher Artaria that “I have composed an entirely new capriccio for the piano; its
good taste, singularity, and elaborate finish are sure to please.” Supposedly, this third (?) version was
then brought out, but, today, the only autograph manuscript unearthed thus far is the 1765 version.
The work is in a single movement, marked Moderato. Thematically, it was derived from a
North German folksong, which Haydn refined to a sort of minuet before proceeding with it in D,
A minor, F, and G minor. From all of these key changes it emerged quite unscathed for the fortissimo
affirmation at the close.
The Sonata No.35 in A flat Major (Hob.XVI:43), was written in 1783, when the master was 51
years old. At that time Haydn was openly and avowedly taking in the inspirations and influences
emanating from his colleague Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This period also shows Haydn predominantly
at work on pieces of chamber music. The Sonata No.35 in A flat Major seems to be a case
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in point made by Haydn’s biographers, namely that it was
primarily the charm of Mozart’s melodic lines which held
Haydn spellbound. The entire work is an apotheosis of graceful
gaiety – a beguiling cherub having a happy day. The first
movement is a Moderato, and the second movement is not a
slow one, but consists of a Minuetto I and a Minuetto II. The
final movement, Rondo: Presto brings towards its close a note
of actual teasing by substituting in the final statements of the
Rondo theme the interval of an octave for the original interval
of a fourth, and repeating this one high note as often as
possible. All throughout the work, the economy of means
and the transparency of texture make up so finely chiseled a
tonal picture that we are indeed reminded of the technique of
chamber music which happened to be the master’s main preoccupation
at that time.
With a lyrically dolce, broadly spaced theme stated
Nadia Reisenberg, 1930s Moderato, the Arietta con Variazioni in E flat Major
(Hob.XVII:3) of 1774 unfolds to a dozen neatly balanced
mutations. As in the A major set, there is no harmonic adventure. It is as if Haydn had set out to
demonstrate his powers of invention the hard way. That the work holds attention in the absence of
modulatory diversions is simple proof of its success. Particularly arresting are the trilled-dotted
rhythm of V, the busy scampering in VI, the ambivalently lyric-dramatic VII, the triplet figurations
in VIII, and the give-and-take exchanges in XII that culminate in splendid agreement.
The Sonata No.60 in C Major (Hob.XVI:50) is thought, by some musicologists, to be the last
of Haydn’s works for solo piano, but it has been impossible to determine a positive chronology of
the final three Sonatas. In any event, all three were written during the period 1794/5, and stand as
masterful souvenirs of Haydn’s sojourn in London. They were evidently intended for performance
by the pianist Theresa Jansen, at whose wedding to Gaetano Bartolozzi, in 1795, Haydn was a witness.
The Sonata No.60 in C Major begins with a powerful Allegro. Expansive in concept, it ranges
from dramatic sections to pages of the utmost brilliance. The fragile, tinkly approach to Haydn simply
will not work here – the performer must complement the inherent energy of the score, bring
out its assurance and vitality. The middle Adagio, cast in rather free, fantasia form, it glows
with themes of the most uplifting nature. Apparently, this movement was composed in Vienna a
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few years earlier and published as a separate Adagio in F. With the final movement (Allegro molto)
we have a return to the tempo of the opening movement, but here the drama gives way to high spirited
humor. Particularly effective are the amusing false starts and the unexpected modulations,
devices that Haydn frequently favored in his mature symphonic works as well.
Far and away the best known of Haydn smaller keyboard works is the Andante varié in f minor
(Hob.XVII:6) of 1793. Haydn misleadingly called it a “piccolo divertimento scritto e composto per la
stimatissima Signora Ployer.” This was the Barbara Ployer to whom Mozart dedicated his concerti
K.449 and K.453; the Andante varié is no less a “trifle.” Ernest Hutcheson deems it “a model of
classic style.” Foreshadowing the slow movement of the Beethoven Ninth there is a double theme,
alternately in major and minor, with two omnibus variations. The recapitulation is “interrupted”
by the stunning coda. Haydn’s biographer, Karl Geiringer, is not reluctant to classify this as “an
important work,” and he perceptively detects in its aspects of color and harmony the “first beginnings”
of romantic style.
Nadia Reisenberg Biography
Nadia Reisenberg was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 14, 1904. On the occasion of the
50th anniversary of her American debut, she reminisced: “I didn’t begin playing until the age of six,
for the excellent reason that we didn’t have a piano. But then one arrived as a present from a favorite
uncle, and it soon became clear that I would be at a keyboard for the rest of my life. My parents
moved to St. Petersburg just so I could study at the Conservatory there, and when I was twelve I
began studying with Leonid Nikolaev. Almost everything I know about the physical side of pianoplaying,
I owe to Nikolaev’s extremely detailed schooling. He gave me that which has served me in
all the years since.”
The Russian Revolution came, and the Reisenberg family left Russia, traveling to Warsaw
(where Nadia made her orchestral debut at the same concert where a young conductor, Artur
Rodzinski, was also making his formal debut), London, Berlin, and, in 1922, moving permanently
to New York. She became a pupil of Alexander Lambert (himself a student of Franz Liszt), and
later, also studied with Josef Hofmann at the Curtis Institute of Music. “From Hofmann I got
a PhD in beautiful, sensitive pedalling, something that far too many pianists neglect these days,”
she remembered.
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She gave her first American recital at the Aeolian Hall in
New York in 1924, before an audience that included
Hofmann and Paderewski. Her program included works by
Bach, Glazunov, Scriabin, Liszt, Debussy, Medtner,
Rameau-Godowsky and Albéniz. The New York Times proclaimed
her to be “a pianist of evidently rare musical nature,”
while the New York Herald called her “a gifted player of brilliance
and finish far beyond her years.” This auspicious
debut began a major career that included solo tours, chamber
concerts with the Budapest Quartet and many other
ensembles, and appearances with most of the important
orchestras. In the spring of 1937 she made a European tour,
giving recitals and appearing with orchestras in most of the
principal capitals. She was enthusiastically acclaimed in
Vienna, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Helsinki, Stockholm,
The Hague, Amsterdam and London. “She is an extraordinary
pianist,” wrote the critic of the Vienna Neue Freie
Nadia Reisenberg, 1950s
Presse, “with a wonderful technique, a colorful touch capable
of a wealth of nuances and a beautiful and warm singing tone.”
Upon her return to New York, she performed frequently on radio. From November, 1938, to
March, 1939, she appeared on live studio broadcasts over WOR in an historic series of all of the
Mozart piano concerti conducted by Alfred Wallenstein. The broadcasts not only showcased the
twenty-seven concertos [including the Concerto in E flat for 2 Pianos (K.365) and the Concerto in
F for 3 Pianos (K.242) but also featured the two concert rondos, as well as the Johann Christian
Bach sonatas arranged by Mozart (K.107)]. Reisenberg recalled: “It was the most rewarding experience
of my entire career, my private year with Mozart! It took more than eight months to complete
the programs, doing one concert per week, and since I had performed only four or five of
them before, I had to learn as I went along, and depend a great deal upon my intuition and innate
taste. I always had six concertos on my piano at a time: I would be finishing two, working on another
two, and reading through a third pair. But it was an invaluable experience, and one I will cherish
for the rest of my life.” It was also a historic achievement, for although several attempts had been
made before to play all the Mozart concerti in sequence, no one had done it again for nearly thirty
years, until Lili Kraus’ marvelous concert cycle at Town Hall.
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During the next decade she continued to perform a wide variety of concertos (Mischa
Portnoff, Liszt No.2, Kabalevsky No.2, d’Indy, Prokofiev No.3, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others),
and began to devote herself more fully to the two greatest musical joys in her life – chamber
music and teaching. She appeared frequently with cellists Joseph Schuster and Leonard Rose, violinists
William Kroll, Joseph Fuchs, Mishel Piastro and Georges Enesco, the Budapest String
Quartet, and with Benny Goodman recorded the Brahms Sonata in E-flat Major. She remembered
those days: “There is something wonderful about doing things together, and rarely do I
experience the elation I find in chamber music. This is music-making in the purest sense, where
the performer becomes humble, and far less important than the work being performed. The sense
of give-and-take, of listening, of being aware of all the sounds around you, all this lets you ripen
into a better musician. That’s why I see to it that all my students play as much chamber music as
possible.”
She taught at the Curtis Institute of Music, was Visiting Professor of Music at the University of
Southern California, and guest lecturer at New York University. She also conducted master classes
for pupils and teachers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, with the
New Jersey Music Teachers Associations, and was on the faculties of the Mannes and Queens
Colleges, as well as the Juilliard School, in New York City. In 1974 she remarked about the value
of teaching: “It contributes enormously to one’s development as a musician to be able to analyze
the problems of your students, even if they have never been your own problems. It’s fascinating to
innovate ways of helping them, of building their potential without stifling their own personalities.
I find teaching exciting, gratifying and rewarding, and it’s always been that way.”
She continued her very active career to the very end, always committed to music. Her health
failing, she died on Friday, June 10, 1983.
These Westminster Haydn recordings, re-issued for the first time in their entirety, were recorded
by Nadia Reisenberg during the years 1955 to 1958 and issued as three long-playing discs. When
they were issued, the response from critics and listeners was unanimously ecstatic. The Detroit
Sunday Times headed its review: “Haydn Album Great” and continued: “Beautifully performed by
Nadia Reisenberg... She has an unfaltering understanding of classical form and spirit...” High
Fidelity also praised her pianism: “No other Haydn record of the solo piano strikes the memory as
comparable to this one in the precise mirroring of small piano-sound, or in the unruffled, obstinate
refinement of the feathered filigrees whirled into a classic geometry by Miss Reisenberg.” Pianism
of this stature and refinement is rare today, and we at Ivory Classics hope that a new generation
of listeners will enjoy, once again, the artistry of this very special performer.
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Credits
Recorded in New York, on August 1, 1955, December 18, 1956, and March 24, 1958.
Originally released on 3 LPs on the Westminster label.
(XWN 18057, 18357, and 18358)
Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis
High Resolution Digital Remastering:
Ed Thompson and Glenn Meadows, Masterfonics, Nashville
Special thanks to Donald Manildi, IPAM Curator, for his cooperation in this project.
Released with the helpful assistance of Robert and Alexander Sherman.
Liner Notes: From the original notes by James Lyons, Franzi Ascher,
J. Robison, and Robert Sherman – edited by Marina and Victor Ledin
Design: Communication Graphics
Nadia Reisenberg Photos
Cover: 1940s (by James Abresch) • Inside Tray: From her New York apartment balcony, 1970s
Page 10: In her Juilliard studio, late 1970s (by Luigi Pellettieri)
To place an order or to be included on mailing list:
Ivory Classics
P.O. Box 341068 • Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068
Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799
e-mail@ivoryclassics.com • Website: www.IvoryClassics.com
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Nadia Reisenberg
The Acclaimed Haydn Recordings
DISC #1
Sonata No.13 (Partita/Divertimento) in G Major,
Hob.XVI:6 (1766) 15:27
I. Allegro 3:47
II. Menuet - Trio 4:46
3 III. Adagio 4:23
4 IV. Finale: Allegro molto 2:31
Fantasia (Capriccio) in C Major, Hob.XVII:4 (1789)
5 Presto 6:10
Sonata No.62 in E-flat Major, Hob.XVI:52 (1794) 20:57
I. Allegro 8:28
II. Adagio 6:59
8 III. Finale: Presto 5:22
Tema con Variazioni in C Major, Hob.XVII:5 (1791)
Tema (Andante) and 6 Variations 3:47
Sonata No.50 in D Major, Hob.XVI:37 (1780) 10:37
I. Allegro con brio 4:17
II. Largo e sostenuto 3:09
III. Finale: Presto, ma non troppo 3:01
Arietta con Variazioni in A Major, Hob.XVII:2 (1771)
Arietta (Allegretto quasi Andantino)
and 19 Variations 15:51
Total Playing Time: 73:18
1 2
2 3
6 6
7 7
9 8
10 9
11 10
12 11
13 12
DISC #2
Sonata No.53 in e minor, Hob.XVI:34 (1784) 13:50
1 I. Presto 3:54
II. Adagio 6:46
III. Vivace molto 3:10
Capriccio in G Major (Acht Sauschneider müssen sein),
Hob.XVII:1 (1765)
4 Moderato 6:42
Sonata No.35 in A-flat Major, Hob.XVI:43 (1783) 13:08
5 I. Moderato 6:21
II. Menuetto I and II 2:14
III. Rondo: Presto 4:33
Arietta con Variazioni in E-flat Major,
Hob.XVII:3 (1774)
Arietta (Moderato) and 12 Variations 7:15
Sonata No.60 in C Major, Hob.XVI:50 (1794/5) 16:41
I. Allegro 7:35
II. Adagio 6:35
III. Allegro molto 2:37
Andante Varié in f minor, Hob.XVII:6 (1793)
Andante, Variations and Coda 16:12
Total Playing Time: 74:34
Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis
2 CD SET
High Resolution Digital Remastering: Ed Thompson & Glenn Meadows, Masterfonics, Nashville
1998 Ivory Classics • All Rights Reserved.
Ivory Classics • P.O. Box 341068
Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 U.S.A.
Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799
e-mail@ivoryclassics.com • Website: www.IvoryClassics.com
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