Haydn

[Mario]

Wow, I really do have a talent for upsetting people, don’t I?

I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I was hijacking this thread from the OP – it was the only thread I could find referencing Haydn.

Time for me to shut up.

[Mandryka]

Didn’t you start this thread, complaining that you didn’t care for Haydn? I guess you are allowed to change your mind in the intervening decade.

No! I've been in a discussion like this before, there are two Mandrykas! But no, wasn't me. (Mine has a capital M)

Wow, I really do have a talent for upsetting people, don’t I?

I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I was hijacking this thread from the OP – it was the only thread I could find referencing Haydn.

Time for me to shut up.

I think there's a bit of confusion.

[RichardB]

No! I've been in a discussion like this before, there are two Mandrykas! But no, wasn't me. (Mine has a capital M)

... and the other one was banned from the forum after some pretty disgusting posts.

Mario: this is a Haydn thread and you were posting about Haydn. Nobody is upset.

[Mandryka]

Erm, any pointers? What’s his Appassionata, Waldstein, Hammerklavier equivalent?
.

Well fools rush in where angels fear to tread, but I vote for Hob XVI 23. It’s the middle one of a set of six - all interesting music. And the three sonatas sonatas Hob XVI 40-42 he wrote for Princess Marie Esterhazy.

(Haydn’s big problem in keyboard music is the naming, no cool names like «moonlight sonata.» I mean, I’m fairly tough about such things, but it’s a real pain to have to check and write things like Hob XVI 23)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Well fools rush in where angels fear to tread, but I vote for Hob XVI 23. It’s the middle one of a set of six - all interesting music. And the three sonatas sonatas Hob XVI 40-42 he wrote for Princess Marie Esterhazy.

(Haydn’s big problem in keyboard music is the naming, no cool names like «moonlight sonata.» I mean, I’m fairly tough about such things, but it’s a real pain to have to check and write things like Hob XVI 23)

There’s an English Sonata though isn’t there in C major ? Lovely work which has the advantage of being eminently playable. I think the problem is that they are just looked on by the virtuosi as finger- looseners. The number of recitals that have the F minor variations in the first half is legion..

[Sir Velo]

There aren't really peaks and troughs in Haydn's sonatas like there are in Beethoven's, I think. But if I had to name a favourite it might be no.59 in E flat.

I suppose the "peaks and troughs" in Beethoven's output might be on the lines of comparing Everest with the Matterhorn or Denali.

While endorsing the recommendations for Brautigam and Schornsheim, I would also recommend Tom Beghim's individual take on the sonatas, recorded in various virtual acoustics to replicate the salons, chambers etc in which Haydn's music was actually performed, and shorter recitals by the likes of Staier and Bezuidenhout on replica pianos of the period. I've also been particularly taken with this recording by the young Italian harpsichordist, Francesco Corti.



Apart from the early sonatas, the harpsichord is rarely heard in this repertoire, but Corti's performances really bring out the percussive and inventive qualities of the instruments in which Haydn clearly revelled.

[richardfinegold]

[QUOTE=Mario;885269]Wow, I really do have a talent for upsetting people, don’t I?

I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I was hijacking this thread from the OP – it was the only thread I could find referencing Haydn.

Time for me to shut up.[/QUOT
??? I ain’t upset. And I didn’t realize that there were two Mandys

[Ian Thumwood]

I have an aversion to alot of the 'Classical ' era of composers as alot does not have the richness of Bach and is not harmonically modern as happened post- Chopin. However, I have to admit that I have stumbled upon Haydn by accident as I wanted something to sight read and was amazed just how much fun his piano sonatas are to play. The sonatas are quite modest and humble yet I feel they have a logic and structure which makes his music more human than either Mozart and Beethoven. I much prefer the modest and more good natured music of Haydn.

I have been buying the Jandos recordings of the Haydn works too. It is interesting to hear how this music should sound. I quite like these recordings.

it is possible to see one of Haydn's pianos in rhe Cobb collection at Hatchlands near Guildford. When we visited 2 weeks ago, I spoke to one of the guides who was also an admirer of Haydn. He told me that up until 1970s, only a fraction of his music was performed and that a lot of his music has been rediscovered.