I may have given the impression in the previous post that Haydn’s Op 76 No 4 is full of angst. Don’t let this put you off. There is lightness too. Everything is in balance.
Towards the end of the last movement suddenly a melody shoots off on its own, like a cheeky schoolboy running off laughing in the playground.
How Haydn asks for it to be played is even more cheeky. Instead of being played by one instrument, Haydn effectively challenges all four players to have a game with it, taking it in turns to play fragments of the melody. It’s a speed jigsaw, the notes up for grabs and needing to be put in the right place at (and in) the right time.
It is a tricky game to play, but great fun. Haydn offers so much.
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