© Zani-Casadio
Revolutions in Music
The New Music of the Enlightenment
Accademia Bizantina
conductor Ottavio Dantone
cello Giovanni Sollima
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony no. 81 in G major, Hob. I: 81
Symphony no. 80 in D minor, Hob. I: 80
Concerto No. 2 for cello and orchestra in D major, Hob. VIIb: 2
Year 1779. Haydn was still in charge at the Esterházy court when his contract was renegotiated, and he was allowed to work for others and sell his scores to publishers in Europe: now he could “think big” and work for the international market. The work of those years on theme and counterpoint, however, did not lose the composer’s typical smoothness – fully rendered by Accademia Bizantina’s original instruments, but if Symphony no. 80 still evokes a strong sense of Sturm und Drang, no. 81 shows unprecedented audacity in harmonic texture and rhythm. The Concerto no. 2 in D major for cello has the same sort of audacity, and, with Giovanni Sollima, reveals its full intimate potential.
