Beethoven-Haydn / Steuart Pincombe, Philharmonie Austin, Mark Dupere

1795 was a good year for music on all accounts: old grandmaster Haydn saw the performance of his 104th and final symphony, while young Beethoven was sketching out the final movement of his first. Acclaimed Texan period ensemble Philharmonie Austin juxtaposes the two on BEETHOVEN-HAYDN, rounding off the program with Haydn's much-loved early Cello Concerto No. 1. As close as the two symphonies may be chronologically, they differ markedly in spirit. The motor in Haydn's works is mercurial wit; the driver in Beethoven's symphonies, a rather primordial force that would later push chamber ensembles to expand to the gigantic dimensions of the modern orchestra. But Mark Dupere and Philharmonie Austin have a trick up their sleeves: they underline the revolutionary aspects of Haydn, and then trace them again in Beethoven. Original and clever — the old master would have been pleased.