“Remembrance and Resonance”.
Giovanni Antonini explains that this album was released shortly after the 40th anniversary of Il Giardino Armonico, founded in 1985 as a trio for recorder, cello and harpsichord. For this reason, Volume 19 has a special meaning within the Haydn2032 project: it is not only another step in the complete Haydn symphony cycle, but also a return to the ensemble’s own musical memory.
At the centre of the programme is Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 in E minor, “Trauer”. Antonini recalls that this was the first Haydn symphony ever performed by Il Giardino Armonico, and also the first symphony he conducted when he was invited to lead a modern-instrument symphony orchestra. The work therefore carries both artistic and personal significance.
Antonini also remembers the importance of Samuel Scheidt’s music in his own musical education, especially through historic recordings by Frans Brüggen and Jordi Savall. This explains the presence of Scheidt’s Paduana Dolorosa à 4 voci, published in 1621 at the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War.
At first, the combination of Haydn, Scheidt and Arvo Pärt might seem unusual. Pärt’s Da pacem Domine was written in memory of the victims of the 2004 terrorist attacks on Madrid trains. Antonini explains that the connection comes from the “mournful” inspiration associated with Haydn’s Symphony No. 44, although he stresses that the nickname “Trauer” is not original and that the symphony has no explicit funeral programme.
For Antonini, both Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 and Symphony No. 52 are not simply funereal works. Their dominant character is dramatic, sometimes melancholic, but also vivid and full of energy. The fast movements are marked by contrast, aggression and agitation, while the slow movements and minuets introduce lyricism, theatricality and expressive ambiguity.
In this context, Pärt’s meditative Da pacem Domine and Scheidt’s sorrowful Paduana Dolorosa take on an almost cathartic and contemplative role. Although the works are separated by centuries and very different musical languages, Antonini sees them as perfectly integrated: together they transform the idea of mourning into a broader reflection on memory, grief, peace and inner resonance.