Haydn Symphony No 28 F major Hogwood Academy of Ancient Music in Esterhazy Castle

Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 28 in A major, Hoboken I/28, was written in 1765. Christopher Hogwood conducts Academy of Ancient Music in Esterhazy Castle (Fertod, Hungary) The work is scored for 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, and strings with continuo. The work is in four movements: Allegro di molto, 3/4 0:00 Poco adagio, 2/4 5:38 Menuetto e Trio, 3/4 13:04 Presto, 6/8 15:53 The inspiring and unusual first movement features a four-note motif with an answering 3-note one. This sounds dry but in Haydn’s masterly hands the result is totally exhilarating. The slow movement features muted strings and contrasts sorrowful legato passages with dotted staccato sections that looks forward to the slow movements of symphonies 60 and 65 where the juxtaposition of the two styles is more stark. The minuet features bariolage where the same note is heard repeated on different strings, an effect that would later give “The Frog“ String Quartet, Op. 50 No. 6, its nickname.