On Friday night, The Handel and Haydn Society presented a concert featuring works by Haydn and Mozart composed between 1791 and 1792, the last year of Mozart’s life and the first year of Haydn’s fame in England. Conductor laureate Christopher Hogwood led the orchestra with fluidity and precision, using symmetrical motions in both hands to conduct rather than using a baton. The Handel and Haydn Society, now in its 192nd season, “is a chorus and period-instrument orchestra” known worldwide for specializing in Baroque and Classical music. The orchestra’s tight, flawless musicianship worked like baroque clockwork and Hogwood captured their spirit in his decisive body language.
The evening opened with Mozart’s Fantasy for Mechanical Organ, K. 608, arranged for strings. The Society held a pre-concert lecture during which the piece was performed in its original arrangement for four hands on mechanical organ. The string ensemble captured the style and unity of the piece brilliantly with tight, forward motion and consistency in the notes evocative of a single instrument. Gentle interplay between the string sections was handled delicately in the beginning of the piece; the sections maintained uniformity as the piece gained drive and edge moving towards the furious finish.
Flutist Christopher Krueger was featured as the soloist in Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G Major, adapted from Clarinet Concerto, K. 622. Kreuger has been the ensemble’s principal flutist for over twenty years. Kreuger blended seamlessly with the ensemble, at times making his melodic line hard to distinguish. The piece gives the impression of a cyclical, runaway melody that weaves through a series of celebratory moods.
Perhaps the highlight of the evening was Haydn’s Symphony no. 98 in B-flat Major, one of his six London Symphonies. The somber, stately opening of the first movement moves into triumphant string exultations. A defining characteristic of the first two movements was the pronounced contrast of quiet and loud sections, frequently exchanging call and response. The ensemble brought out the dynamic extremes without sounding harsh. The second movement contrasted tender, lulling sections with moments of loud tension and release. Hogwood handled the transitions with delicate changes in pace that kept the piece breathing.
The character of the third and fourth movements contrasted greatly with the first movements, conveying a lighter whimsy and playfulness. The light-footed, dance-like nature of the third movement was executed with sharp, tight articulation without becoming severe. The final movement stepped the liveliness up a notch with comical capriciousness. Neither Haydn nor Hogwood took themselves too seriously in this movement; the comically unremitting, insistent notes and overblown pauses employed by Haydn were reproduced by Hogwood in a wittys, fanciful style that radically contrasted with the sobriety of the first movements. Hogwood sashayed to the beat of the music as he conducted. As the piece moved towards an exciting and stately close, forward motion was suspended for a moment with a glittering, eleven-bar fortepiano solo. The optional solo is a delightful display of Haydn’s sense of humor and wit, and was an unexpected embellishment before the triumphant end of the symphony.