Dans la chronologie établie en 1990 par James WEBSTER, cette symphonie est la 1ère du groupe de symphonies qu'il nomma «Apotheosis of the Chamber Symphony»:
Cité des excellentes notes de H. C. Robbins Landon publiées en 1972 dans le livret du 5e volume de l'intégrale enregistrée sous la direction d'Antal Dorati:
"[...] This popular symphony is a particularly successful blend of gaiety and towering intellectual strength: in that respect it is closely allied to No. 92, which may explain in the particular success of both works. Before proceeding to the corpus of Letter V (No. 88), we would point out a striking innovation, or rather a double innovation: the Symphony begins with Haydn’s usual “light” scoring, i.e. without trumpets and drums.
It was in fact not usual to have trumpets and drums in a G major Symphony in those days, and for purely technical reasons: G trumpets (known as “English trumpets”) were too high-pitched: their scale did not begin until g'', whereas the alternative, of using C trumpets, meant that the trumpets were rather limited. Haydn’s No. 54, which has trumpets and drums and id in G, was originally composed in 1774 without them; it is now (1971) thought he added them when using the Symphony in England. The timpani part of Mozart’s brilliant G major Symphony K.318 seems also to have been a later addition.
Thus, no one in Paris anno 1788 would have expected trumpets and kettledrums in a G major symphony, and they will have been very surprised to see them patiently sitting through the first movement. When the second movement, in D, commenced, they will have still wondered what those instruments were doing at the back of the stage, because in slow movements of symphonies, trumpets and drums were almost never used; Haydn and Mozart had never done so before 1783.
Thus their astonishment at hearing the trumpets and drums enter after forty bars of the slow movement must, as we have been at some pains to explain, have been considerable. This is the first Haydn symphony with a slow movement to use them. Mozart’s first (and last) was in the Linz Symphony K.425 (1783), but the Parisians had never heard a note of it, and would not for many years; though the Viennese knew it, and possibly Haydn, too. Many years later, in the Leipzig Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, we read of the tremendous effect that was created with the introduction of trumpets and timpani into slow movements by Haydn and Mozart - even in 1798, people still recalled it. This is the kind of thing that we would do well to remember, because our ears, flatted out by the eight horns, three trumpets and tubas of German Romantic music, and the two pairs of kettledrums in a Wagner Walküre, hardly hear the innovation any longer.
If anyone wanted to know why Haydn wrote slow introductions to most of his late symphonies, he might try playing this first movement without the Adagio. The introduction is particularly necessary in movements where the quick section begins piano, and you will notice that this situation obtains in Symphonies Nos. 84, 85, 86, 88, 90, 91 and 92: all their quick sections begin softly. Conversely, the other Symphonies, Nos. 82, 83, 87 and 89 all begin forte. The opening theme, say, of the Allegro in No. 88 is too delicate, too “fragmented”, to come in out of the cold. This first movement is undoubtedly an intellectual tour-de-force of the first magnitude. In notes of this kind, we cannot attempt to describe how the themes, and their accompaniments, are all closely interrelated. [...]we would make the point that the Parisian audiences of 1788 were highly educated musically and without any doubt they understood and appreciated the intellectual side of this Allegro.
The great slow movement, of which Brahms is reported to have said, “I want my Ninth Symphony to sound like that”, is a variation movement built upon one of Haydn’s hymn-tunes and marked Largo. Among its many spectacular features is the brilliant orchestration: what the Germans call “durchbrochen”, “broken through”, which means the opposite of massive. This finely wrought supported score gives the theme's announcement to solo oboe supported an octave below by solo violoncello and accompanied by solo bassoon, second horn, viola and the bass line. The effect is as original as the Prelude to Tristan if we attune our ears to anno 1788, which is admittedly difficult almost two hundred years afterwards. How Haydn gradually enriches the theme as the movement progresses is a wonder to behold. Of all the symphonies discussed in this booklet, this one most requires the listener to follow it with a score.
The Menuetto, in G, with C trumpets and kettledrums in low G and D, is a scene out of Bruegel: stamping peasants dancing round kegs of wine and tables groaning with harvest feast. If anyone wants to know the difference, in one word (or rather one minuet), between Haydn and Mozart: compare this earthy, rich painting with the fantastic sophistication of the Jupiter Symphony’s third movement, both written within a year of each other. In No. 88, there is, to celebrate the timpani’s entering the closed world of G major, a neat little solo in two places (bars 11f., 41f.). In the Trio, the banquet is over, and much wine has been consumed: the bagpipes come, droning to the drowsy couples in the afternoon sun. It is another painting of vivid colours, and as earthy as the Minuet itself. Marie Antoinette will have loved it: she will have been reminded of the Petit Trianon. But everyone will have loved it, peasants included.
The Finale is one of the most intricately conceived, yet brilliant sounding, movements Haydn ever composed: a sonata rondo which is a perfect tribute to the Viennese predilection for combining intellect and beauty. Notice in the development section how - after returning rondolike to the tonic key - Haydn suddenly launches into a fortissimo canon between upper and lower strings which continues, before our fascinated eyes and delighted ears, bar after bar: this is surely one of the great contrapuntal feats of the Viennese classical symphony.[...]"
Ernest ANSERMET, env.1965, photo de presse DECCA publiée entre autres dans l'album Decca London CM 9438
L'enregistrement proposé sur cette page est extrait du concert d'ouverture du Festival de Montreux 1960 avec l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande sous la direction de son chef fondateur Ernest ANSERMET - c'était sa rentrée sur scène après une longue période de maladie. Le concert fut diffusé en direct sur l'émetteur de Sottens:
Le compte-rendu d'Hermann LANG publié dans la Nouvelle Revue de Lausanne du 2 septembre 1960 en page 35:
Voici donc...
Joseph Haydn, Symphonie No 88 en sol majeur, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, 31 août 1960, Pavillon de Montreux
4 fichier(s) FLAC et 1 fichier PDF dans 1 fichier ZIP
En écoute comme fichier mp3 320 kbps
1. Adagio - Allegro
2. Largo
3. Menuetto - Trio
4. Finale. Allegro con spirito
Ernest ANSERMET, un portrait fait par Godfrey MacDomnic, env. 1968, publié entre autres en couverture de l'ouvrage «Conversations with conductors» Robert Chesterman, Robson Books, 1976
1. Adagio - Allegro 05:29 (-> 05:29)