Michael Haydn: Concerto Works (2006)

The music history books speak of the influence of Joseph Haydn's brother Michael on Mozart's church music, but one supposes upon hearing these Michael Haydn concertos of the 1760s and 1770s that Mozart may have known them as well. They are not full-fledged examples of Classical-era double-exposition concerto form, but they are large, ambitious works that suggest Mozart's flair for breaking up the materials of his orchestral expositions in interesting ways. They have little of the French sweetness about them, and their ... Read More

The music history books speak of the influence of Joseph Haydn's brother Michael on Mozart's church music, but one supposes upon hearing these Michael Haydn concertos of the 1760s and 1770s that Mozart may have known them as well. They are not full-fledged examples of Classical-era double-exposition concerto form, but they are large, ambitious works that suggest Mozart's flair for breaking up the materials of his orchestral expositions in interesting ways. They have little of the French sweetness about them, and their interest lies in how the material unrolls and recombines. Their diverse instrumental forces contribute to a certain diffuseness: the second concerto on this disc plays a flute off against a pair of horns, and the first is for the odd combination of organ (or harpsichord), viola, and orchestra. (The disc closes with a violin concerto.) On this Italian-Japanese co-production, the organ part in the opening work is taken by a claviorgan, a rather strange hybrid combining organ and harpsichord... Read Less