'The Classical Style' reading group, week fifteen

 

Haydn After the Death of Mozart

2. Piano Trio 

By ERIC WAGNER
Special guest blogger

I once asked the Yeats scholar Ian Fletcher why some younger Irish poets hated Yeats. He said, "Sometimes you have to go back to the day before yesterday." On page 360 of The Classical Style Rosen writes, "elements may remain dormant ready to reappear at any moment as an artist goes back to the day before yesterday to find something newer and more progressive." 

Can we save these wonderful trios from the dustbin of history? Perhaps Avengers: Doomsday will feature some of this music and it will start to trend on social media. Perhaps statements like "ERIC WAGNER, OUTER HEAD OF THE ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS, SAYS LISTENING TO HAYDN'S PIANO TRIOS WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND ALEISTER CROWLEY" will flood the internet. Perhaps when I reach my goal weight I will write a best seller called The Haydn Piano Trio Diet. They will become more popular than tai chi walking. 

I remember in the 1990's I wanted to get at least one CD of Haydn piano trios. A one CD recording on original instruments had gotten a rosette (their highest rating) in the most recent Penguin guide to classical recordings. For just a little more, I could have gotten the complete piano trios played on modern instruments by the Beaux Arts Trio. I opted for the original instruments CD, but I feel like if I had bought the complete set thirty odd years ago, I would know this music much better. I have really enjoyed listening to the Beaux Arts Trio recordings this week.