Franz Joseph Haydn

In this recording, famous musical chapters such as l’Omaggio a Boccherini of Mario Castelnuovo–Tedesco and the Piezas Caracteristicas of Federico Moreno Torroba are featured next to genuine rarities Alba and Postludio by the Swiss composer Hans Haug. The last two works have not been available on CD for more than 20 years.

The gigantic project of “Auryn’s Haydn” is very near completion. The series is setting standards for many reviewers and the first series won the coveted “Echo” last year.

This is the latest volume in this landmark series.

Wen-Sinn Yang is an experienced solo and chamber musician. He performs these works with only a few players and without a conductor. He has performed as soloist with such orchestras as the Radio Suisse Romande and St. Paul’s Chamber Orchestra and has worked with Sir Colin Davis, Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons.

The Hungarian trumpet player Gábor Tarkövi comes from a family of mainly brass playing musicians and switched from clarinet to trumpet. Since 2005, he has been the solo trumpet player in the Berlin Philharmonic; “In this orchestra I work with wonderful colleagues, who always inspire me. That is a very lovely feeling.”

“The work on the present recording made me feel the seemingly visionary imagination of Joseph Haydn. This not only because his music can be “turned into sounds” on an accordion, which is an instrument of the 21th century: with their phraseing, their specific sound, and their transparent way of interlacing the different lines, the piano sonatas create an environment where the accordion with its fascinating timbre canbring to bear all its inherent powers.” (Wolfgang Dimetrik)

Hermann Baumann is one of the world’s greatest horn players. He won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich 1964 (Jessye Norman was second that year, and won in 1965), and from then on he played in some of the greatest orchestras, conductors and ensembles in the world. Claudio Abbado asked him during rehearsals in Rome for Mahler 6 ‘why aren’t you in Berlin?’ He played with Concerto Amsterdam under Jaap Schröder, for Karl Munchinger and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and for Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus Wien. A lifetime of concert giving around the world and an extensive discography has ensured that his stupendous technique and versatility, and characterful playing has been heard and admired by thousands of music lovers.

This extensive survey of his art embraces the major concertos and some rarities, some fascinating chamber works, and a selection of virtuoso showpieces that display the artistry of this multi-faceted musician.

Booklet essay by Hermann Baumann, recollecting his career.

It is only comparatively recently that Haydn’s piano sonatas started to feature in recitals, and some of the major pianists of our time have added some of them to their repertoire – Alfred Brendel being perhaps the most illustrious champion of this neglected area of Haydn’s output.

Even with this re-awakening of interest, out of the 60 works concerned, only a handful appear in recital. To compare them with Mozart’s sonatas is as unfair as the often comparison of Schubert’s sonatas with those of Beethoven. Mozart’s sonatas display the cantible of the operatic aria or lied, and have a distinctly ‘south of the Alps’feel to them.

Haydn’s influences come from further north in Berlin and Hamburg. CPE Bach’s sonata’s appeared during the 1740s, and the last appeared in 1787, and the influence of these works was as profound on the young Beethoven as it was on the older Haydn. The first 15 Haydn sonatas date from around 1760, and were probably intended as teaching pieces. Nos.16-19 and 28 belong to a transitional period, Nos.21-27 are sadly lost, and No. 20 and Nos29-62 representing the differing phases of Haydn’s maturity. Of these Nos.48-52 date from 1777-9, and the last three sonatas, Nos 60-62 were composed in London during Haydn’s second UK visit in 1794-5.

All the hallmarks of Haydn can be found in the sonatas, dramatic contrasts between light and dark shadings, sudden pauses and switching between piano and forte – sometimes for drama, often for humour – all foreshadow his unruly and headstrong pupil Ludwig van Beethoven.