HAYDN CELLO CONCERTO IN D MAJOR

Natalie Clein discusses the improvisational freedom, humour and joy that are central to her own interpretation of the first movement of this popular audition piece

NEDA NAVAEE

From Haydn Cello Concerto in D major Hob. VIIb:2. Urtext edition with marked and unmarked string parts. Ed. Sonja Gerlach. Pf reduction Stefan Zorzor. Vc fingering and bowing Reiner Ginzel. Order no. HN 418, ISMN 979-0-2018-0418-7. €15.00. Printed with permission of G. Henle Verlag, Munich © 1990

For me Haydn expresses musical joy, human warmth and humour more than any other composer. This concerto speaks, sings and dances, and it is so beautiful in its lyricism. He wrote it for the cellist Anton Kraft, who enjoyed wowing people with his virtuosic skills high up the fingerboard, and it’s one of the first important pieces in our repertoire to use thumb position. When I first performed it, as a teenager, I had this sense that I was flying above the orchestra, and I wanted to make the audience members feel that they were flying too. Nowadays I often teach it for many hours a week, but I never get bored: Haydn’s endless inventiveness means there is always something new to discover and smile about. I also enjoy experimenting with a Classical bow and gut strings, and find it enlightening to translate my discoveries to my modern set-up.

First impressions: flexibility, resonance and freedom

The opening tutti quavers ( ) need to ebb and flow, like conversation, human breathing, life and nature. They are flexible and unstoppable, like water. I use a Classical bow to help me play naturally unequally, with less emphasis on the up bows, in long, flowing breaths, without obvious bar-lines. It’s so important never to sound mechanical, repetitive or stuck. I love to direct this from the cello when I can, sitting to the side so that I don’t have my back to the orchestra, because without a conductor everybody really has to listen.

It is obvious from the beginning of bar 29 whether a soloist is excellent or not. This line has to sound light and breezy, without physical tension despite the difficult jumps. The beauty, expression and resonance of the sound have to come from the right side of the body much more than the left. We could use a tiny bit of vibrato on the first F sharp and final A of bar 29, but only to amplify the natural resonance of the instrument – not because it just feels comfortable! Haydn never writes staccatissimo marks on unimportant notes, so these indicate that we can play with more flesh and weight.

Haydn gives us space to take our time between the big beats of bar 30, as though they are the walls and floors of a Classical building, with ornate details that confound our expectations in between. The sextuplet here is like an expression of sparkling laughter.

Long, legato lines were becoming increasingly popular among musicians in Haydn’s time and this concerto is filled with contrast between articulated, fast-speaking notes and singing, soprano lyricism. We have to keep that legato feeling even for the jump up to E in bar 33, breathing in and out to prevent our muscles from getting tense. I think of my upper arms as my wings and my right arm as my breath, as though I’m a wind player.

‘Nowadays players feel so bound to the score. It’s such a pity for them, for us as listeners, and for the music. It’s not what Haydn imagined, I’m sure’

Improvisational freedom

When this piece was written there wasn’t the same division between composition and performance that there is today.Nowadays players feel so bound to the score and it’s such a pity for them, for us as listeners, and for the music. It’s not what Haydn imagined, I’m sure.

One place to be creative is in the appoggiaturas of bar 34. We could play one longer, one shorter, one with rubato, with a speaking quality to the sound. Keep the hair on the string, but let the stick bounce, to create a wonderful contrast with the legatissimo lines that came beforehand.

After this, we can imagine a virtuoso soprano as we play the demisemiquaver ( ) run from bars 35–36 with improvisational flair. Letting the left ‘wing’ fly here will take away some of the fear of the high F sharp. There’s a physicality to it, like giving someone a hug: we have to embrace the difficulty of the note, be totally calm in the body and know what’s coming. In bars 36–37 we can put slurs in all kinds of places depending on how we’re feeling, to bring out the asymmetrical moments within the symmetry of the Classical form. If we do this, while ignoring the bar-lines, our playing will never be boring or mechanical.

All too often the D string can’t be heard in the double-stop passage from bar 38, so we need to be careful to bring this out.I play the grace note in bar 39 as a harmonic, taking care to treat it with my bow with just as much respect as I would a stopped note. Then I aim sharp for the fourth-finger G sharp in bar 39, because almost everyone plays this flat! After this tightrope act, there’s a sense of physical relief in the first-position sextuplets that follow. I love the rising 7th to begin bar 41, so I bring this out by playing the D for a little longer and using shorter bows for the descent. We can add ornaments in asymmetrical places here too, in bars 42 and 43. However we decide to play, we should be open to the idea of doing things a new way tomorrow. In bar 45 Haydn makes a harmonic joke with his appoggiatura octaves, staying in D major instead of taking us into A major. To bring this out we can use all kinds of effects with timing and the bow, or even play an improvised turn or scale.

The second theme

In bar 50 the baritone second theme gives a beautiful contrast to the soprano first theme, and it needs a tranquil, resonant sound. The slur in bar 50 means that Haydn wants this all on the G string, not necessarily in one bow or phrase.

The long lines of virtuosic triplets from bar 58 are free and flowing, as though there are no bar-lines. This is high, tightrope playing and it’s important that the left hand remains strong and the right hand stays chattering and free. It helps to use gravity in the bow arm, like a monkey hanging off a tree, balancing the upper left ‘wing’ so that the bow sits comfortably on the string, without tension in the left hand. At the same time, we need to have enough steel running through the middle of the finger to give us strength when we play up high.

Again, we can be creative with the bow here, by slurring in threes, taking a down bow and two up bows, two up bows and a down bow, or using separate bows. I add mordents, passing notes and trills from bar 65. Think of all the possibilities and use whatever combination inspires you.

For the double-stops from bar 71, I like to bring out the humorous second-beat discords, rather than the resonant first beats. It’s difficult to hold the full-length crotchets ( ) under the semiquavers ( ) here, so we have to be skilful with the bow to create the illusion that we can, without playing four separate semiquavers! With the quavers of bar 73, it is as though Haydn asks us to give up trying.

The development and recapitulation

The Sturm und Drang development from bar 92 needs a lot of elegance and control. I use a little vibrato on the A in bar 98, and then less on each of the crotchets as the tension reduces with the falling line. It’s like one big sigh, until the storm begins in bar 100. Then we have to stay cool in the head, cool in the body and shoulders, and fast in the hand, as though the fingerboard is too hot to touch – especially for the arpeggios in bar 107.

I love how Haydn takes us in new directions in the recapitulation from bar 136. There’s so much warmth and beauty in the unexpected G sharp second semiquaver in bar 140, and in the surprise C natural in bar 143. The lovely big leap all the way up to G in bar 147 is so physical and so much fun. It’s quite easy to play, in fourth position, so sometimes I try to feel the interval in my throat as if I were singing it, to get a better sense of its size.

When I feel inspired, I like to add a downward scale or a flourish to the pause in bar 167, before relaxing into the ascent in bars 169–175. The shifts up and up here should have a lightness to them, so don’t get your nose stuck in the strings! Breathe, visualise and check your posture until Haydn gives you some relief with the harmonics of bar 175.

Improvising a cadenza

I always ask my students to improvise a cadenza, or at least to compose one, using thematic material from the piece and tasteful Classical harmonies – not weird Romantic chords! The balance of this first movement is already perfect, so the cadenza should only be long enough to recall a few of the themes, touch on the minor key, feel lost for a moment and then return. It should be virtuosic, but that virtuosity must suit us as individual players. It shouldn’t be a source of sadness or fear, but a moment to enjoy.

Wrapping up

To finish the movement, we go back to where we started, playing tutti with the orchestra. The forte and piano here are like a charming Classical yin and yang, before the horns and the oboes play together in 3rds for the final bars, as though the characters of the first movement have gone off to hunt and now we are about to learn about the more personal, inner life of one of the protagonists. It’s a modest ending, written by a modest, good-humoured man who knew when to stop.

INTERVIEW BY PAULINE HARDING