Haydn: Piano Sonatas
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Free Music Notes for Haydn: Piano Sonatas
Free Music Review: Haydn Meets the 21rst Century
Hit: 5 Stars
I can't quit listening to these performances. I love them.
It is very interesting to read so many divergent reviews. That tells you something about the performance; and it is this: These are Sonatas by Marc-Andre Hamelin, based, note for note, on Haydn. And that's the kind of playing some will like very much and some will equally dislike. Glenn Gould, more than any other pianist, typified this sort of interpretation. At the extreme were his interpretations of Mozart and the late Beethoven sonatas. I happen to like his Mozart, but I would never try to defend them as anything Mozart would have remotely imagined.
I consider it the stamp of an artist. There are literally thousands of proficient, professional pianist who can play perfectly competent Haydn, and their playing is virtually indistinguishable. There is no mistaking Hamelin's performances for any other in the repertoire.
Hamelin's Haydn sparkles. Hamelin's Haydn can hardly keep himself seated on the piano bench - his wig falls off, the buttons of his waistcoat pop, he bounces gleefully as he plays. This is Haydn like you've never heard him - impish, vituosic, full of verve and spritely. His crescendos truly crescendo. His touch is light and coy.
To which I say: FINALLY.
I am *so* bored with all the polite, "mature", drawing room performances of Haydn. One of the more negative reviews compares these performances to Vivaldi rather than the "relaxed Josef Haydn". If that's the kind of Haydn you prefer (and this is the way Haydn has been performed for most of the 20th century) then you probably won't like these performances. For my part, I'm willing to go out on a limb and state that while Haydn was probably not as virtuosic as Hamelin, this is how contemporaries probably "heard" Haydn - exciting, impish, spritely.
I don't, in the least, find these performances vapid, senseless or just plain silly. Hamelin does not treat Haydn with the "reverence" some listeners might prefer. He meets Haydn like a delighted friend. I don't find the fast tempos silly. I find them energetic and joyful.
The playing is colorful with agile shading, the phrases and rhythmic ideas are impishly enjoyed. These are not the performances of a romantic.
I can well understand why some would not like these performances. Where I disagree is in the assertion that these are "bad" performances. They most definitely are not. They will appeal to some, depending on what they value, and they will definitely *not* appeal to others - most likely those who value a more romantic, nuanced and introverted performance. These performances are for the extrovert.
By the way, Haydn's life overlapped that of Vivaldi's.
Free Music Review: Haydn's piano sonatas revived
Hit: 5 Stars
Marc-André Hamelin has made himself noted for his amazing virtuosity when playing composers like Alkan and Godowski et al. But personally I prefer his exquisite way of handling the standard repertoire, for example Schumann's Fantasistücke or Beethoven's last sonata - magnificent playing indeed.
So when seeing he has started a Haydn sonata project, my expectations rose. Will this be the outstanding cycle of those sonatas, which have never attracted great interpreters the way Mozart's, Beethoven's and Schubert's have done. Who is, after all, the great Haydn pianist in the history of gramophone recording? John McCabe's cycle is an excellent one, Brendel's separate recordings are of course superb, but the truth is that you will not easily find a correspondence to let us say Clara Haskil in Mozart, Backhaus and Schnabel in Beethoven, and Rubinstein in Chopin.
So what about Hamelin? I must admit that my first impression was a bit confounded. The playing has a strict neo-classicist character, seemingly avoiding the pre-Romantic sentimentality, so often associated with Haydn performances on the piano. This is very close to Scarlatti and above all Clementi, the way Howard Shelley performs Clementi in his current cycle. The flashing runs, the exquisite ornamentations, the perfect balance.
But the more listening, the more benefit. I enjoyed the humorous touch Hamlin lends to many passages - why shouldn't Haydn the pianist be a great humorist as well as Haydn the symphonist? -, particularly through the slightly rattling and clattering timbre he gives certain tones and ornaments. A great delight!
And especially the slow movements are performed with a refinement, an intimacy and a devotedness, that is ardently conquering. In particular, I liked the C major sonata No 50 and the last sonata in E flat major (No 52), though I think every sonata has its peaks and its highlights for everyone. And my impression is that every new listening reveals new values in all of them, due to the distinguished playing of Hamelin's. The most convincing criterion of the greatness of a recording!
This double-CD is filled with mainly late sonatas. Acquire it, and see to it that you have a lot of time to listen and relisten, and then relisten again, and you will certainly question if it is possible to get a better and more satisfying recording of the Haydn sonatas in these days. In short, this is highly recommended!
Free Music Review: The Joy of Music
Hit: 5 Stars
In my mother's and then later my wife's collection of cookbooks was one called 'The Joy of Cooking.' I can think of no better epithet for this two-CDs-for-the-price-of-one collection of Haydn piano sonatas than 'The Joy of Music.' We know that Haydn was one of the most joyful composers and certainly that adjective applies to his 60 or so piano sonatas (of which there are ten presented here) and there is absolutely no pianist before the public today who conveys the joy of music-making more than Marc-André Hamelin. Even though I would never have dreamed he would bring out a Haydn sonata collection -- one associates him with less-well-known music, usually of the super-virtuoso sort -- I am thrilled that he did. (And come to think of it, Haydn's sonatas aren't as well known as they deserve to be.) Let me say that this set eclipses any other Haydn sonata recordings I know. It's that simple. There is a such superhuman clarity, such grace, such stylish phrasing, pearly runs, precise figurations, such technical aplomb and such high spirits as to allow me no other conclusion.
The contents of the two CDs are representative of Haydn's entire sonata output, with a couple of the masterful late sonatas -- Nos. 50 in C and 52 in E flat -- cheek by jowl with some of the earlier, less experimental ones, such as No. 23 in F.
It's a wonder to me that Haydn sonatas are not more often played or recorded. Perhaps, like the piano trios, it's because there are so many of them. But if you compare the number of recordings and performances of Mozart sonatas with these gems the disparity is astonishing. I find that I turn to the Haydn sonatas in my own listening more often than I do the Mozarts, although I love both sets of sonatas immoderately. And now that we have this group of sonatas played by Hamelin I suspect I'll be doing so even more often; in fact, there has been no other music in my car CD player for the past two weeks. Is it too much to hope that perhaps there will be more Hamelin recordings of Haydn? One can only wish.
It's a lovely gesture, by the way, that Hyperion has chosen to issue this set of two CDs for the price of one. Thank you, Hyperion! And thank you as well for including the enlightening and exhaustive essay on the sonatas by Richard Wigmore.
Very enthusiastically recommended.
Scott Morrison
Free Music Review: Hamelin Does it Again!
Hit: 5 Stars
Marc-Andre Hamelin is, arguably, the finest pianist performing today. His choice of repertoire is unfailingly interesting. This CD, as many other reviewers have indicated, might seem to be a surprise at first - Hamelin and Haydn? - yet this apparent difficulty resolves itself easily. Haydn was one of the giants of music. His influence on Beethoven is profound. He continued to grow as a musician and composer right up until he died. His piano sonatas are unfairly overshadowed by Mozart's essays in the form. Yet, I would agree with the late Glenn Gould that Haydn writes more effectively and interestingly for the instrument. Unlike Mozart, who was considered a virtuoso and had something to lose by learning from a rival, Haydn did not hesitate to learn from the new virtuosity that Clementi was bringing to the instrument and a number of these (especially the later sonatas) are brusing knuckle dusters. It is ironic that nothing I have heard from Hamelin in years displays his exceptional gifts so well as these CDs of Haydn sonatas. The clarity, brio, precision and taste are extraordinary. These are the finest recordings of Haydn sonatas that I have ever heard. And this is a superior value. Hyperion has given you two CDs for the price of one. I hope that Mr. Hamelin records more Haydn. Buy this, you will not be sorry.Free Music Review: Stylish AND a bargain!
Hit: 5 Stars
It's time Papa Haydn got some overdue respect. In the field of piano sonatas in the so-called Viennese Clasical period (roughly 1750-1825), works by Mozart and Beethoven get most of the attention, if not nearly all. There's nothing wrong with these last two, and not everything Haydn wrote down is an absolute masterpiece, but there certainly are some jewels waiting to be rediscovered. A challenge: Play Marc-Andre Hamelin's rendering of the adagio movement from Sonata #46 in A-flat for several music-loving friends without saying who wrote it. Most will probably say it's Mozart or young Beethoven, and if they play the piano, they'll want to learn it. Hamelin, best known for recording late Romantic and 20th century repertoire, brings utterly smooth technique and very attactive style to these pieces. His outer-movement tempos are sometimes strikingly fast, but he's always in perfect control. And since Hyperion has made these clear and detailed recordings affordable -- 145 minutes of music for the price of one CD! -- you can't possibly make a better investment in getting to know this bafflingly underrated composer.