10 June 2010
Radio New Zealand Concert's pick of the week features Haydn with the New Zealand String Quartet Music Alive - Monday 5 July, 8pm Last year the New Zealand String Quartet honoured the bi-centenary of the death of Josef Haydn with two national tours. The first was a multi-disciplinary presentation of Haydn’s Seven Last Words and second was tonight’s series Haydn and the String Quartet. The first and last works Haydn published were string quartets. In between he created a body of works with variety, emotional range and a consistency of inspiration that has never been surpassed. According to tonight’s programme notes his Opus 1 (? 1757-9) shows and extraordinary assurance for a young composer pioneering a new genre. In Vienna at this time string quartets were published for domestic music-making – to be played as much as to be listened to. When Haydn visited London in 1791, however, he found a tradition had emerged where string quartets were included in public concerts. As a result, his later quartets were increasingly written with the concert hall in mind – fuller textures, bold gestures and greater virtuosity, to project the music across the footlights. Haydn wrote most of his symphonies, his operas, his church music, for the particular conditions at Esterhazy – but he wrote his string quartets for the world In tonight’s programme, the New Zealand String Quartet plays movements from many different quartets from throughout his life, interspersed with readings from some of Haydn's biographers. (Source NZSQ Programme Notes) This concert was recorded in Hopetoun Alpha, Auckland by Radio New Zealand
