Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 64 Nos. 4, 5 & 6 (On Period Instruments)

Featuring

Micaela Comberti
Simon Standage
Trevor Jones
Jennifer Ward Clarke
The Salomon Quartet
Joseph Haydn

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Compositional Technique

Unlike Haydn's other quartet sets, the Op. 64 quartets are more intimate works with difficulties shared evenly among the four instruments, resembling his earlier Op. 33 quartets.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Haydn's style evolved significantly in the 1780s, combining his 'conversational' motivic approach with a new relaxed melodiousness, influenced by his friendship with Mozart.

Compositional Technique

Haydn frequently used variation techniques in the slow movements of his Op. 64 quartets, often basing them on song-like Adagio themes or folk-like tunes.

Composer Biography

In 1790, Joseph Haydn, already the most famous composer in Europe, was released from his nearly thirty-year contract as Kapellmeister to the Eszterházy family after Prince Nicolaus died.

Recording & Production

The Salomon Quartet, featuring Simon Standage and Micaela Comberti on violin, Trevor Jones on viola, and Jennifer Ward Clarke on cello, recorded this album in October 1995.

Composition History

The Op. 64 Quartets were dedicated to Johann Tost, a violinist and businessman who had led the second violins in the Eszterháza orchestra and was also the dedicatee of Haydn's Opp. 54 and 55 Quartets.

Composition History

The Op. 64 Quartets were likely begun in Haydn's final months at Eszterháza Castle and completed in Vienna in the autumn of 1790, after he was freed from his employment.