DESCRIPTION:
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Piano Trio No. 45 in E-flat major, Hob. XV:29 (1797)

00:00 - Poco allegretto
07:29 - Andantino ed innocentemente
10:33 - Finale. Allemande (Presto assai)

Trio Wanderer: Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian (violin), Raphaël Pidoux (violoncello), & Vincent Coq (piano)

"The final work of the set for Therese Jansen (Bartolozzi), No. 45 in E flat (Hob. XV:29), and perhaps the last of all Haydn's compositions for the medium (musicologists disagree on the chronology of the London and post-London trios, and the Jansen group may or may not have been written before the two isolated trios [41 & 42] published in 1795 and 1797 respectively), returns to the method of the 'Gypsy Rondo' trio, with two slowish movements working up to a spirited finale which is the 'hit' of the work. It opens with a spacious 'Poco allegretto' that artfully combines song and variation forms: the 'B' section in the minor is in fact a variant of the theme of the 'A' section. The beautiful slow movement, whose harmonic scheme is mentioned above, leads directly into the 'Finale in the German Style', to give it the title of the original edition. This is a brilliant sublimation of the German dance or 'Allemande', not a real one of the kind we find in Mozart's remarkable late dances for the Redoutensaal in Vienna; any attempt to dance to this music would be doomed to failure by Haydn's many humorous touches, such as the temporary change of meter soon after the beginning and the sudden pauses in the eventful development section. Yet the inimitable spirit of the Austrian ländler is faithfully recreated, and once more a virtuoso is called for at the piano; the piece should go as fast as possible (the marking is 'Presto assai'), and when this is respected and one senses the exhilaration of Viennese dancers swirling around the floor, it should not be too difficult to imagine Therese Jansen rising from her seat, perhaps slightly flushed by her exertions, after playing this tribute to her musicianship from a sixty-five-year-old admirer." - Charles Johnston