Joseph Haydn - The Seven last Words of Christ

Joseph Haydn - The Seven last Words of Christ







Of the three instrumental versions of Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ from 1787 (the original, for orchestra, the string quartet as evidenced here, and the piano reduction – commissioned but not written by him), it is the string quartet which is most often performed. The Roamunde's read of this magnificent oratorio – seven adagios to be performed as accompaniment during Good Friday services – is deep, solemn, and concentrates on the subtleties Haydn employed in composing the work for an audience who, at the end of the 18th century, all but abandoned interest in orchestral "Passions." After the Renaissance, individual, inner piety was stressed over its most public displays. Haydn wanted desperately to appeal to this trait, and was worried terribly about boring his audience over the 70 minutes the work took to perform. The work was written to be performed in a church built from the inside of a cave, and the sonorities of not only the orchestral version, but also the string quartet have this sense of place deeply embedded within their structures. Also, the Rosamunde Quartet with its languid, unhurried sense of the work's drama and sobering truth locates those very places which Haydn used as signposts along the way as accent points (the reference to Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in the fourth movement for one). It's a liberty to be sure, but one that is virtually unnoticeable but serves a higher purpose: that is to highlight the intricate weaving of the waning Baroque with the newly emergent classical styles. Without any sense of cultural clash – which includes any entertaining of the form versus content furor that would so grip the 19th century – the Rosamunde's accent the truly original in this work, meaning that which other readings have either neglected or somehow missed entirely. The ECM sound is warm, and crystalline, and there are few quartets on the planet with versatility and sensitivity the Rosamunde's have; with Haydn they restore the accessible grandeur to a work of sublime majesty while keeping its focus on its timelessness and innovation which foreshadowed the next generation's attempts to both use and disavow its influence.



The Seven last Words of Christ

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The Seven last Words of Christ