Hello Joe,

First movement: The broken arpeggios and ornaments are very rich and sound both wild and beautifully controlled at the same time. There is an almost Scarlatti like feel to the ornamentation. The melodies are slightly punctuated with accents throughout, making them seem voice like. The tempo is interesting.

Second movement: Very nice conception of the main motif. The scale like passages were very melodic. Sweet and pleasant to listen to, the second movement with it's delicate and yet forthright texture is charmingly convincing.

Third movement: This is very beautiful, very musical, precise, and well balanced. Bravo to you performance of the entire Sonata.

Thanks for sharing,
-Kaila

Excellent!

Hi,

Regarding Haydn being neglected today: I recall when I was a young piano student, good piano teachers at the time used to sequence the Classical period by introducing the student to Haydn, Mozart and then early Beethoven. It makes me wonder if today's teachers might be skipping over Haydn and going directly to Mozart. For whatever reason, it seems that only a few of these Haydn sonatas are widely known which is unfortunate.

David

Thanks for listening, Kaila, and for the compliments. I agree that the ornamentation and overall sound of some of these earlier sonatas is Scarlattiesque.

Joe

Thanks, rsmullyan.

Hi David,

Yes, I think it's largely true that Haydn is often being passed by these days (although it seems to have enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance among certain of today's generation of professional pianists). Haydn's intricate rhythmic textures in particular are, I think, of tremendous pedagogical importance. I think it is sometimes neglected because it lacks the immediate appeal of Mozart and Beethoven, its structure and melodic ideas being wilder and more experimental. Besides the late E-flat, I'm not even sure that any of the Haydn sonatas are "widely known," although the two late C Majors and the first E-flat have begun to receive their due recently as well. This may in part be explained by the fact that besides these late sonatas, the Haydn sonatas, like the Scarlatti sonatas were largely written as instructional material. The E-flat and C Major late sonatas, on the other hand, were written for the touring virtuoso Therese Jansen to play.

Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for your thoughts on that--very interesting too.



I can think of one that many pianists would know immediately: the Sonata in D Hoboken XV1/37. (Had to look that number up.) A long time ago we used to affectionately refer to this one as "the chicken clucker",based on the opening movement. It's impossible not to enjoy this wonderful piece!

Here is another angle on perceptions of the sonatas. Haydn certainly did play the harpsichord and piano, but he was also considered an accomplished violinist. So some today think of him more as a string player, the piano sonatas being a bit of an anomaly, although he did compose a dozen or so other pieces such as variations and smaller pieces. His greater emphasis though seemed to be the symphonies, masses and string ensemble pieces. If so, than that too might account for today's teachers tending to bypass these sonatas, perhaps believing that they were more of a sideline in Haydn's creative work.

David

Ah yes, good point. That one has always seemed particularly Mozartean to me. It is indeed very frequently played. That one actually has never appealed to me as much and I decided not to do it, especially since I will be doing the other four late ones I mentioned in my earlier post.



Another good point. The piano sonatas, like Mozart's, IMO are vastly less important than the other Haydn works you mention, but wonderful nevertheless. Piano teachers, as you mentioned earlier, ironically do seem to love assigning Mozart sonatas, though they too are on the whole probably much less important than other of that composer's works like the operas, piano concertos, ensemble works, etc. Incidentally, I've always preferred Haydn's sonatas to Mozart's and thought the latter's were a bit overrated (besides the A and C minor).

That's a lovely performance. Haydn is too classical for my taste but I enjoyed listening throughout. Your second movement (adagio) is excellently played. In general, I think you have a beautiful rendering of all details. Loved the use of pedal.

Hi Joe,

Had a listen to these, enjoyed all three movements! The first has the right pace and the balance of right and left hand is well done. The second had the right tempo to be adagio and the broken chords in the left hand paired with the melody nicely. For the third movement I would have liked the dotted figures to sound longer on the pickup note, but overall not half bad!

Look forward to more sonatas from you (by haydn or whoever)

Riley

Riley and wiser guy,

Thanks very much for listening and for the comments. Much appreciated.

Joe