Seeking Haydn: Giovanni Antonini's Haydn2032

© Kemal Mehmet Girgin

Many conductors, quite reasonably, hold the day of a performance sacred and shun any outside intrusion until after the final chord has died away; not so Giovanni Antonini, who professes himself delighted to meet on one such day to talk about his ongoing project to record all of Joseph Haydn’s symphonies – so much so that he almost needs to be reminded to eat a quick lunch before launching into the final rehearsal for that evening’s concert.

Antonini is the artistic figurehead for Haydn2032, an ambitious undertaking – one that spans performance, recording, musicology, photography, and literature – that was launched back in 2014 and is due to finish in 2032, to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Supported by a newly-created foundation in Basel, the Joseph Haydn Stiftung, Antonini and two orchestras with which he has close ties – the Italian Il Giardino Armonico and the Swiss Kammerorchester Basel – will perform and commit to disc each of Haydn’s 107 symphonies (that figure only recently revised up from the previously canonical 104).

Each of the Haydn2032 releases is accompanied by cycle of images related to each topic, in collaboration with renowned photo agency Magnum Photos. The photo above accompanies the sixth release, Lamentatione

© Abbas, Magnum Photos

“We are almost one third of the way through,” notes Antonini, “having done at least two projects a year since we started. The structure is very similar each time: we have four concerts, and in between we have recording sessions.” He is keen to emphasise the collective approach of the project: “It’s a great opportunity, because thanks to the Foundation in Basel, which gives support in a very generous way, we have the right resources and atmosphere to plan, to rehearse, to think, and to perform. This then leads to new ideas, so it’s a work in progress that is unique.

“It’s really a long-term mission – quite unusual for this age, when everything seems to be fast and short-lived, and it requires a lot of energy. The thing is not to become casual in our approach; when you have such a long project the danger is that you become complacent and things become routine, which is what we are trying to avoid.”

The luxury Antonini has of being able to work with period instruments and two first-class orchestras helps with this drive never to rest on his laurels. “I founded Il Giardino Armonico 33 years ago, so I know them very well! But I’ve also had a long relationship with the Kammerorchester Basel, particularly when we performed and recorded all of the Beethoven symphonies. I particularly like this way of working, when you have time to really think through and talk about things with the players, which helps us to keep our interpretations related to the moment, not fixed and unchanging.”

The overall trajectory of the project – in which the symphonies for each album and associated concerts have been linked by themes and moods, rather than chronologically or numerically, and then supplemented by other works that fit with the theme – also helps to keep things fresh, as does Antonini’s disarmingly honest, yet informed approach to this vast body of music.

“I have to say, I didn’t start out as a great expert in Haydn’s music! Of course, I have a background in Baroque and Classical music, but I have really enjoyed this opportunity to discover things and to learn things while doing them. You must be informed, and I come from the world of period instruments where the philosophical approach is very important. But on the other hand, in order to keep this freshness, you have to take risks in the moment and not give a performance that is entirely philological; that is, completely bound to the musical text and everything written there.

Each of the Haydn2032 releases is accompanied by cycle of images related to each topic, in collaboration with renowned photo agency Magnum Photos. The photo above accompanies the eigth release, La Roxolana

© Mark Power, Magnum Photos

“We can talk about what a sign in the text means – what it probably means – but we can’t always definitely say ‘I am right’ or ‘I am wrong’: we would need recordings by Vivaldi or by Bach to prove it! But also, we are merely part of history – not in any heroic sense, but that we live in the 21st century, and we have to remember that in the 19th and 20th centuries there was the need to play this music in a different way. I could say that Harnoncourt, for example, is already part of the history of interpretation, and we could argue whether he was right or wrong; but what is important is to be alive in the moment, in our time, keeping in mind these elements that can help us to understand the aesthetic background of composers, given that they lived centuries ago.”

Not just composers from centuries past, either, but audiences and consumers of music, too: “What’s important for me is to present concerts that are a kind of show, as they were back in the time of Haydn – much more than we think, I believe. Sometimes we idolise the music of the past and imagine them like pieces in a museum; but if you look at the structure of concert programmes in the 18th and 19th centuries, pieces would be broken up by other works, and things were often very theatrical.

“Musicologists are discovering more and more that some of the symphonies and other orchestral works by Haydn took their inspiration from stage music, and this also shines a light, for me, on how we should approach the interpretation. I can’t say for sure that it is the right approach, but I think it can bring something new to Haydn’s music that often, in my opinion, is performed in quite a rigid way.”

I suggest that the stereotypical image of the composer – avuncular, jovial ‘Papa’ Haydn – has perhaps done him few favours compared to the more colourful personalities and lives of his contemporaries and successors.

“Yes,” agrees Antonini, “and this affects how we think of him. Oh yes, ‘Grandfather’ – we know all about that side of his character; but then there came Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and I think this did a lot of damage to the image of Haydn. He became, in people’s mind, just a creator of forms. But then the musicologists and the period instrument movement discovered that in fact there was much more to reinvent when approaching Haydn.

“A good performance can transform the music of Haydn much more than the music of Mozart, for example; Mozart can have only a medium performance and still be beautiful, because there is a beauty to the music. But with Haydn, it is more difficult – you have to work very hard. Yesterday I went to the National Gallery here in London, and you can see how in so many paintings gesture and posture are important to portraying someone’s character. These efforts to describe the human form, in a palette of a thousand colours – I think you can find this in Haydn, who I think was able to paint the human soul in so many different shades.”

To further bring out the richness of the composer’s music, Antonini has carefully selected works by other composers – and Haydn himself – that either provide historical context or challenge the listener to reconsider his or her preconceptions of Haydn’s music. While many of the names are familiar and their link to Haydn clear – Gluck, C.P.E. Bach, Mozart – there are several whose inclusion are bound to raise an eyebrow or several.

“On the next CD to come out, we recorded some Bartók with Il Giardino Armonico and I even used some Renaissance instruments in one piece! To prepare for this we listened a lot to the field recordings that Bartók made, and also to the phrasing that Bartók himself did when performing these pieces on the piano. Of course, it was not written for Renaissance instruments, but it was also not written for modern instruments – and I think including this music helps to remind us of the links between folk music and Haydn’s symphonies. There is also an anonymous piece, Sinfonia iucunda, that starts off like Biber and then halfway through changes to folk music. I played chalumeau for this, a strange instrument – you can still find it in Turkey as a folk instrument. I hope this will all make people think differently about Haydn.”

So where does this Haydn journey take Antonini next? “Although the Foundation is keen to ask me what I will be doing in several years’ time, and I understand the need to make booklets and raise money, I want to take time, and find the right music that I feel happy about. I’ve planned the next one or two, but they may not be definite. It’s a luxury situation – I am free until even three or four months beforehand to decide, which in normal concert planning would be impossible. So I don’t know for sure – it’s an adventure!”

© Marco Borggreve