Haydn, string quartets

Franz Joseph Haydn was a groundbreaking composer. He is often called "the father of the symphony"; sometimes also "the father of the string quartet".

Haydn was older than, but a contemporary of, both Mozart and Beethoven. He established the musical templates which Mozart and Beethoven then perfected.

As far as symphonies go, I prefer Beethoven. But I love Haydn's string quartets, whereas Beethoven's tend to strike me as maudlin. (Beethoven bridged the classical and romantic eras; I suppose the romanticism of Beethoven's string quartets is a little over the top for me.)

I don't have a lot of string quartet recordings in my library, so perhaps I shouldn't spout off on the subject. But I can at least recommend my favourite among the recordings I do possess:  the Alban Berg Quartet (pictured), performing Haydn's String Quartet in G, Op. 77 No. 1; and his String Quartet in F, Op. 77 No. 2.

Admittedly, the disc has one peculiar feature. In between the two beautiful compositions by Haydn, there is a modern piece by Berio:  Notturno (Quartetto III). When I say "modern", I mean the Alban Berg Quartet produces lots of squawks, squeaks, and squeals on their instruments:  unmusical noises. And there are 23 minutes of it.

I find that I can appreciate modern, atonal compositions in a live setting — it's a "happening", as they used to say in the 60s — but I never feel like inviting this sort of performance into my personal living quarters. It may be unenlightened of me to admit it. At least I can say that lots of other folks share my ignorant opinion.

Anyway, the two Haydn compositions consist of four movements each. So the disc has four beautiful, stirring tracks, followed by Berio's evocation of a cat yowling — one might imagine the poor feline desperately warding off a swirly — followed by four more beautiful, stirring tracks courtesy of Haydn. It's a schizophrenic experience, but on balance there's more Haydn than Berio.

I suspect the Alban Berg quartet was making the point that it's all music, and the silly distinctions people like me make between Haydn and Berio are arbitrary.

I remain unpersuaded. I don't find the Berio relaxing and pleasurable, whereas the Haydn compositions are both of those things:  gloriously so.

A good string quartet possesses what I describe as "quiet energy". It's easy to generate energy by grabbing an electric guitar and turning the amp up to "11" (per Spinal Tap), and maybe throwing in a primal scream (e.g., Roger Daltrey of The Who in "Won't Get Fooled Again").

It takes superior musicianship to keep the volume down yet crank the energy up. A string quartet, in the capable hands of talented musicians, has the potential to do just that.

Because it's quiet, a disc with "quiet energy" can be used as background music while you're concentrating on a demanding task. But because of the energy, it is also rewarding to set your task aside and attend exclusively to the music.

Notwithstanding my reservations about track five, I recommend the Alban Berg Quartet recording very highly. As I said above, this is my favourite of the string quartet recordings in my music library.

Songwriting:  ★★★★★
Performance:  ★★★★☆
Sound quality:  ★★★☆☆
In a word:  Exceptional.

Here's the Alban Berg Quartet performing a string quartet by Beethoven.



If you would like to hear Haydn's string quartet in G (the first composition on the Alban Berg disc), you can hear another performance of it here.