Search - Franz Joseph Haydn, András Schiff :: Haydn: Piano Sonatas

An Exceptional Haydn Piano Recording

Donald Carlson | Redding, CA | 04/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thanks to three prior reviews here, I decided to purchase this CD set. I have listened to many different recorded interpretations of these late Haydn piano sonatas over several decades; this set by Andras Schiff is the most rewarding in my listening experiece. His performance exemplifies the qualities of clarity and balance so central to the classical period. At the same time his sense of Haydn's wit, humour and invention is pure refreshment.



Andras Schiff is quoted as saying, "Silence is the beginning and end of all music...".

The way his musical notes sometimes appear out of dead silence is like the purest light appearing out of the darkest void. A kind of revelation!



Haydn's beautiful and sophisticated composition, Shiff's inspired enunciation, and Teldec's quality recording are in perfect concert here."

The First-Rate Champion of Haydn's Piano Sonatas

Dexter Tay | 08/06/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Andras Schiff is one of the most venerated classical pianists living today that has contributed benchmark interpretations of Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Schubert.



Schiff retains a special admiration and love for Haydn, as the album notes and his more recent DVD recording of live performances reveal; he appreciates the true genius of Haydn which modern listeners very often neglect - his witty humour and his simplicity of elegance.



During my earlier days of forays into the classical piano lexicon, I've been plagued as well by the ubiquitous yet ill-informed opinion that Mozart was the greater genius of the two. The impression that Mozart had great wit, evident through his correspondences, might have partially been responsible. However, the contrary was the case in his music, notably his piano sonatas vis-a-vis Haydn; Mozart usually favoured cantabile lines to "programmtic wit", while Haydn was adept in bringing wit and surprise elements to the highest order in the Classical Idiom.



It is on this same note that Schiff approaches and appreciates the genius of Haydn. The album provides an exposition by Schiff and scholarly, comprehensive but never-too-dry work-by-work commentaries by Misha Donat. While I have utmost respect for Schiff's Haydn, a view largely attributed to the recent excellent DVD commentary he made on Haydn's sonatas, I could not agree unanimously with all his interpretations of the sonatas found on this album.



My favourite sonata, the charming E flat major, was in my opinion, disappointing, compared to the others found on the album. A case in point would be the tempo for the haunting beauty of the Adagio movement being somewhat way too fast (and tempestuous) in the stirring middle section.



I wasn't quite won over by Schiff's interpretation of the C major sonata, a piece that I play, in the first movement, as I was in the other Haydn works recorded by Schiff.



Schiff held full sway in the Fantasia in C major, a work which is probably his favourite and which he fought to champion, playing with such erudition and surprise (as in the DVD) that is peerless.



Haydn's crowning achievement in his piano sonata in E flat Major found a well-deserving accolade with Schiff, an interpretation that perhaps set universal standards for this great work that ranks side by side with Brendel's.



Another disappointment was that the compilation did not include the great f minor variations, which could be found in the DVD recording, where Schiff played with the almost utmost perfection.



Overall, I would say this is quite an indispensable recording of Haydn's greatest works, though I would think not as indispensable as say, Brautigam's definitive recording of the last Haydn sonatas on the period fortepiano."