Vanhal: 3 Piano Quintets

Album review

Johann Baptist Vanhal was a Viennese contemporary of Haydn and Mozart, admired by both, and regarded as their peer in his own time. Yet the rediscovery of the wider picture of composition in the late 18th century has largely bypassed him. His symphonies of the 1770s are fine examples of the Sturm und Drang trend and were in several respects stylistically out in front of Haydn's and Mozart's contributions to the genre. The same can't be said of the three works here, published in 1784 and claimed to be piano quintets. The high points are the slow movements, all three of them, and especially check out the impressively dramatic and entirely novel quasi-improvisatory transition to the Allegro finale of the second quartet (track 6). Not so novel is the overall deployment of the instruments; these are not really piano quintets but accompanied sonatas, with the strings taking on very little music that's independent of the piano. These pieces are certainly not the "concertos with a more transparent accompaniment" proclaimed in the booklet notes, in Hungarian, French, German, and inadequately edited English. This said, the opening movements too are of quite a bit of interest for Classical-period buffs; Vanhal sustains interest within large structures, despite the fundamentally extraneous information being delivered by the strings. Another strong point is the fortepiano of Miklós Spányi, built by Belgian maker Chris Maene after the common Viennese Walter instruments; it has an unusually clear, gentle sound, and the intimate dimensions of Hungaroton's studio recording showcase it beautifully.
© TiVo