S2.E96. Sunrise with Haydn, some trifles with Finzi, lyricism in Beethoven's 5th, Tchaikovsky March, Final Chorus, St Matthew Passion.

Welcome back to Perfect Pitch with Nick Healy Hutchinson and his fresh approach to the world of classical music. Whether you're an expert or a beginner, old or young. Perfect Pitch has something for everyone.

Here in the UK, we are at last enjoying a little sunshine. And musical thoughts turned to Joseph Haydn, specifically his sunrise quartet. Written right at the end of the 18th century. The first movement of the B flat quartet is surely one of the most original openings in all chamber music. And the whole passage is the most delightful conversation piece between four and seven percent. It's really not hard to see how it came to be known as the Sunrise Quartet. Played here by the Academia Quartet. Funny enough, it's precisely how Gerald Finzi had created his own bagatelle for clarinet and piano. The first four of them were performed in one of the lunchtime concerts in the National Gallery in 1941, before Finzie was drafted into the Second World War, and the last was added in 1945. We may not have thought much of them, but they have happily survived. The boisterous prelude and jolly fughetta finale, a book and three charming miniatures in between, where the clarinet is really allowed to sing, and a romance, a carol, and a forlana, which is a lively Italian dance. Played here by Michael Collins on the clarinet and Michael McHale on the piano. Going back a moment to that theme of light, which is where we started with Haydn, it's nothing original to say that that is at the very heart of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The transition from darkness in the opening movement to blazing sunshine at the end. But on the way, it's sometimes easy to overlook the second movement, which is much more than a mere pause before the final triumph. It's marked and dante commoto, which means walking pace with motion. The opening theme goes through a series of variations with strings interweaving with each other and an ever-present freshness with overhead woodwind. The second theme is introduced in a little trio before returning to the original and concluding with a really solid affirmatory full stop. I always look forward to this lyrical movement, which is played here by the Deutsche Kammer Philemonie Orchestra Bremen conducted by Paavo Yevi. And here is the Sound of the Lark followed by Vladimir Ashenazi on the planet. An inevitable result of this was that I couldn't spend too much time talking on any one particular aspect as much as I may have wanted to. And over that time I don't think there's ever been an occasion when somebody hasn't observed that it hasn't felt more apt than ever. But the truth is it's never not been apt. Because it's much more than a religious story. It's a universal one, a theme which has never changed around the ages. A story all about sacrifice, the need for society to find someone to blame. The story, in this case of one innocent man, but in reality representative of so many sins, tried, wrongly convicted, and brutally executed. And ultimately it's a story of remorse and the desire for forgiveness. So it's little wonder that this monumental work of art is the creation of something which will forever be eternally timeless in its meaning. And that's why you don't have to subscribe to religious belief to be moved by the story and its music. We know that the piece got just two or three performances in Bach's lifetime after its first performance in 1727. The amount of singers involved then would not have been much more than twenty. After that, unbelievably, it lay neglected for almost exactly a hundred years. When the work was brought to Felix Mendelson often, he embarked on quite a savage editing process to leave us with more or less the peace we have today. One of the huge differences now is that we have moved from a total of 20 seconds to forces of sometimes 200 or more. They are witnesses and participants in the action. But they are also representative of us as witnesses and participants. And that's why this closing chorus is such a glorious and human formation. We sit down with tears and call into your grave. Rule Zamphoda. Why elders would opposing chorus have these words if it wasn't because at some point we all share, even if not knowingly, in this similar injustice, and need sometimes to point the finger with undue hate. This is a grieving chorus of a sublime contrition. You will notice that even the final note is preceded by a dissonance and needs resolving before the work can close it properly. A master which prolongs the tragedy all the way to its very last moment. It's sung here by the choir and played by the orchestra of the Collegium Vocali Gent, conducted by Philippe Helegger. And on a scale much closer to how it would have been in 1727. And Bach will have the last word because silence is really the only thing that can follow it. Until next time.