Haydn: Piano Trio No. 35 in C major, Hob.XV:21

Joseph Haydn’s long-term employment as Kapellmeister at the palace of Eszterháza in Hungary is reflected in the dedication of his set of three Trios, Hob. XV:21-23 to Princess Marie Ermenegild Esterházy, though these were published in London during the second of Haydn’s visits. These delightful works are notable for the dexterity required of the pianist, and all, including the Trio No. 14, involve lively and innovative use of tonality. Previous volumes in this series have been acclaimed for their “taste and stylistic insight”. (Daily Telegraph on Volume 1, 8572040)

Haydn’s Piano trios are split into two sets, his early and late trios, the former seldom played except in the context of complete editions. The latter reflect the composer's full musical maturity and are greatly admired by critics. This complete set, new to Phoenix Edition collates all the works on 8 CDs released in good time to commemorate the forthcoming bicentenary anniversary of Haydn’s death in 2009.

Haydn’s early trios were composed in the mid-1750s when Haydn was Musical Director for Count Morzin. Haydn composed these in the style of baroque trio sonatas and he mostly chose “Divertimento”, “Capriccio” or “Partita” as a title. This makes it more difficult to determine how many works were specifically piano trios. In contrast to the earlier trios, the compositions from the 1780s and 1790s have titles such as “Sonate” or “Sonata” – the trios are representative of the genre “piano sonata with accompaniment” in which the piano was the focus of attention. These “late trios” are consistently more polished and demand far more virtuosity from the musicians.

Complete recordings give the listener an insight into the development of the genre itself but also Haydn’s ever more polished musical language and instrumentation. This complete box is performed by the multi award-winning Haydn Trio Eisenstadt who provide clear evidence here that every opus is a long way from being written off as “utility music”.

"The Haydn Trio Eisenstadt...are unfailingly stylish” Gramophone on a previous recording by the Haydn Trio Eisenstadt

Complete Piano Trios - A boxed set of 9 CDs with one new booklet for a special price!

Haydn’s Piano Trios in a nine CD boxed set performed on period instruments by the highly acclaimed Trio 1790.

The supreme, voluptuary realist of French painting, Jean Ingres, exclaimed that Haydn was music’s alpha and omega: ‘Whoever studies music, let his daily bread be Haydn…the first who created everything, discovered everything, taught everything to the rest!’ While an intervening century or two of musicology might tell us that if Haydn was father to the symphony and string quartet, there were some interesting midwives among his contemporaries, Haydn’s sheer industry remains unequalled; but so too his creative facility and fertility in returning to the well time and time again, and never returning empty. In this first volume of Brilliant Classics’s survey of Haydn’s music, issued to mark the 200th anniversary of his death in 1809, are many of his most famous works: all 104 symphonies, his two oratorios of imperishable power and beauty, The Creation and The Seasons, as well as another with much no less striking music, The Return of Tobit. There are several of the operas he wrote for the court at Eszterhaza, where he was more or less a servant-prisoner for most of his adult life, and – a first on disc – a complete recording of the 126 trios written at the behest of the court’s prince for an obsolete string instrument, the baryton, in which the prince had himself attained a modest accomplishment. Most of the string quartets are here too, in recordings made especially for Brilliant by the Buchberger Quartet, and historically informed interpretations of the complete piano sonatas on instruments of Haydn’s day. This is a significant contribution to the anniversary of one of the great composers, with much new material, and at an unbeatable price.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Bonus CD-ROM contains song texts and a specially commissioned essay exploring Haydn’s music, genre by genre, by the renowned Haydn authority, Richard Wigmore New recordings of bayton fios and other chamber works made especially for this set and not previously released.