★★★☆☆
My six-year-old daughter presented a new party trick the other day, which is counting to 100 at top speed (pausing for a few dramatic gulps of breath). If she learnt to add another four she would get to the total tally of Haydn symphonies. Almost the composer’s entire career was punctuated by his explorations into a form that he virtually invented, certainly in its modern sense.
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s opening concert in its new season was called “Haydn First and Last” and did what it said on the tin. As well as the climax, the Symphony No 104, London — Haydn in his 1795 pomp — we heard the wee Symphony No 1, written for the composer’s first boss, Count Morzin, and, halfway through the canon (and seemingly chosen for no better reason than that), No 51, one of the countless works Haydn knocked out for another patron, Count Esterhazy. If only today’s plutocrats were willing to bankroll whole orchestras and composers to furnish them with new material.
The concert was engagingly compered by the violinist Matthew Truscott, who directed the orchestra. He read out incredulous reports from Haydn’s era that asked what was the point of a newfangled position called “conductor”. This was funny but also a self-imposed challenge on a night of 100 per cent Haydn that needed strong contrasts in pace and colour to see us through, sprinkles of stardust that — sorry — are normally scattered by that beloved/hated maestro.
In the end, the diamonds shone but the semi-precious Haydn needed more polish. Nothing was more startling than the opening Representation of Chaos, whose blaring dissonances sounded as if the players were groping in the dark (yet they knew exactly what they were doing). The Symphony No 104 was tight, bright, volatile — the OAE on home ground and classy form.
Elsewhere, and with less famed material, the same lithe, taut approach produced less consistent results. The Symphony No 1 may not be sophisticated but Truscott and co’s lean approach gave it pulse and punch. No 51, however, didn’t leave much of an aftertaste, and if the idea had been to spotlight the two horn players (their music is dominant, and terrifying), the two instrumentalists were more cautious than athletic. There were some lovely moments in the Concertante for violin, cello, oboe and bassoon — phrases swapped like little parcels of sweets — but for a piece that was supposed to show off character and virtuosity, everyone was too reticent.
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