Classical: In tune with the buzz

HAYDNFEST '99

ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC MANCHESTER

THINK OF any Haydn string quartet between Op 0 and Op 77 No 2 and you could have heard it last weekend, not in Esterhza but in Manchester. Quartets of all ages, from the younger end of Chetham's School of Music to the old hands of Quatuor Nostalgique - persuaded out of quartet retirement for the occasion - assembled for a HaydnFest at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).

Legendary quartets such as the Amadeus and the Aeolian were represented by Siegmund Nissel and Emanuel Hurwitz passing on some of their vast experience in masterclasses. Haydn enthusiasts, many eagerly following scores, mingled with student string players and curious casual concert- goers; instrument makers plied their wares; academics discussed the merits of various editions.

On paper HaydnFest represented the kind of exercise beloved of concert promoters, more obsessed with numbers than creative planning: musically it was a refreshing and stimulating way to start the new year. It was ambitious too in that, unlike the Edinburgh Festival's 1996 series of 46 quartets in 18 concerts, HaydnFest somehow managed to squeeze all 69 quartets into 14 concerts in just three packed days, with performances at morning, noon and night, in tea and coffee concerts, and even in a HaydnSeek children's concert.

Whether or not you go with 68 string quartets or 69, whether you count the string quartet version of Seven Last Words, whether you are taken in by the spurious pieces by Hoffstetter, some of which were slipped into the Nachtmusik concerts here, you couldn't fail to applaud this opportunity to hear the complete string quartets of the composer who invented the medium as we know it. If, as Goethe once said, "a good quartet is like listening to a stimulating conversation between four intelligent people" then HaydnFest had plenty of sociability. No doubt it also had its party bores, but fortunately I missed them.

The Brodsky Quartet, all former RNCM students and now celebrating 25 years as a quartet, opened their concert with one of the most dramatic openings in the whole of Haydn's quartets, Op 54 No 2 in C.

But this was perhaps a too civilised conversation, all poised charm at the expense of any theatricality. There was a disappointing absence of interplay between the instruments in the chirrupy quavers of Op 33 No 3 in C, The Bird, and a polished finesse rather than any sense of spontaneity dominated the unruly last movement of Op 76 No 4 in B flat, Sunrise.

Closing the festival, the Endellion Quartet's dialogue was far more riveting, with lively discussion in the opening movement of Op 50 No 6 in D, Frog, and delightfully witty repartee in the croaking bariolage of the last movement.

Candles stuck into old wine bottles gave a welcome air of informality to the late-night student quartets raising bows against the buzz of low laughter and chatter in the bar below the Senior Common Room. Haydn, who first wrote quartets for amateur players to enjoy with guests in their salons, would surely have approved.

The first of three broadcast recitals from HaydnFest is on BBC Radio 3 tomorrow at 1pm, featuring the Brodsky Quartet