A Tour of Haydn’s Influences Via Late Masterworks

We like to think of our own era as one of unprecedented swiftness of stylistic change, but the experience of any composer today pales beside that of Franz Joseph Haydn. Two of Haydn’s late masterpieces, which incorporate influences ranging from the Baroque to Beethoven, were given confident voice Friday evening at St. Matthew’s Church in Pacific Palisades.

Haydn was 27 years old when Handel died and he lived past the premieres of Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies. Echoes of the younger composer can easily be heard in Haydn’s choral writing in his “Harmoniemesse” in B flat, sung with vigor and flair by the St. Matthew’s Choir in a lively reading conducted by Thomas Neenan.

Individually, soprano Diane Plaster, mezzo Kimberly Bernhardt, tenor Tim DeWitt and baritone Michael Stevens contributed nicely shaped solos. In duets and quartet, their conflicting vibratos created some quavery effects in the resonant St. Matthew’s acoustic.

Beethoven’s emancipation of the winds is also readily apparent in Haydn’s orchestral writing, from which comes the music’s nickname, “Harmoniemesse” or “Windband Mass.” The St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra played with sturdy verve, moments of misintonation and bobbled articulation notwithstanding.

Neenan’s conscientious but largely faceless interpretation of the “Military” Symphony in G, No. 100, was the other pillar of the program. Neenan opened with a cautious account of Rossini’s Overture to “The Barber of Seville,” and after intermission he turned the podium over to David Reed, winner of a conducting opportunity at a benefit auction, for an amiable, amateur detour through the Andante from Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony.