Haydn: Keyboard Concertos (2005)

This 2004 recording, reissued by Harmonia Mundi as part of a large Haydn series marking the 200th anniversary of the composer's death in 1809, takes on Haydn's keyboard concertos, traditionally one of the least cultivated aspects of his output. Haydn was about humor and formal sophistication, not about the drama inherent in the concerto format, and with the exception of the final Keyboard Concerto in D major, Hob. 18/11, these works are little played. The D major concerto dates from perhaps around 1780, just before the ... Read More

This 2004 recording, reissued by Harmonia Mundi as part of a large Haydn series marking the 200th anniversary of the composer's death in 1809, takes on Haydn's keyboard concertos, traditionally one of the least cultivated aspects of his output. Haydn was about humor and formal sophistication, not about the drama inherent in the concerto format, and with the exception of the final Keyboard Concerto in D major, Hob. 18/11, these works are little played. The D major concerto dates from perhaps around 1780, just before the great flowering of the concerto in Mozart's hands, but the other two are early works, and the booklet is full of disclaimers about the music. They're only partly justified. The biggest problem is with keyboardist Andreas Staier's use of the fortepiano, and a muscular replica of a late-century Walter fortepiano at that, in what was certainly, in the case of the first two concertos, harpsichord music. The sprightly Keyboard Concerto in G major, H. 18/4, works all right, but the middle... Read Less

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2008, Harmonia Mundi UPC: 794881891825 CD See All