A review of a recording of the finale (4th movement) of Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 33 No. 2
The recording of the finale (4th movement) of Haydn’s String Quartet Op.33 No.2 that I have decided to review for you today is performed by the ‘Ariel Quartet’. This performance has a strong sense of togetherness and the performers give a sense of enjoyment through the performance.
From research I have learned a lot about the background of this piece and about Haydn himself. Joseph Haydn wrote music for patron Nikolaus Esterhazy but also wrote pieces and works for sale to the general public. He composed six quartets of Op.33 in the summer and autumn of 1781 for the Viennese publisher Artaria. Haydn said in a letter to Artaria that the quartets were ‘a new and entirely special kind’. A new feature that Haydn included in this quartet was naming the minuet movement in each quartet Scherzo meaning ‘joke’ in Italian. He used Rondo form also which had not been used before this by Haydn. The rondo finales matched the light and playful character of the whole piece. The nickname The Joke was given because of the obscure rests at the end of its rondo finale. The six quartets of Op.33 were first played on the 25th of December, 1781 in Vienna for the Grand Duke of Russia, which so lead the nickname, the ‘Russian’ Quartets.
The Ariel Quartet were formed in Israel but moved to America in 2004 to continue their professional studies. The Ariel Quartet has won many professional prizes in