Haydn: Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Hob.XVI:46

“This first release in a long-term series offers four sonatas, dispatched with scintillating brightness and many ornamental trills...It’s impossible not to be impressed...by the panache of No 39 in D or the grand carnival of the relatively lengthy No 31 in A-flat.” The Times, 12th March 2010

“nothing, either in expression or tone, is ever forced. It helps that [Bavouzet's] modern grand (maker unspecified) has a relatively crisp lower register, and that the recorded sound rightly achieves spaciousness and intimacy...a wonderfully promising series.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2010 ****

“however extensive his survey turns out to be, the results should be well worth hearing...Though he exploits all the tonal possibilities of the modern concert grand, Bavouzet also makes full use of the latest ideas on performance practice...It's the best kind of historically alert piano playing.” The Guardian, 25th March 2010 ****

“The scherzando middle movement of the C sharp minor sonata (No 49) made me want to dance around the room to Bavouzet’s joyous playing. Unadulterated bliss.” Sunday Times, 28th March 2010 *****

“[Haydn's sonatas] still have a Baroque feel which Bavouzet doesn’t seek to play down, and he conveys Haydn’s impish spirit with the utmost clarity.” The Telegraph, 26th March 2010 ****

“The French pianist renowned for Debussy has now turned his attention to Haydn, and the results are effervescent and dazzling” The Observer, 4th April 2010

“Clarity of line is paramount in this music and that is what Bavouzet delivers: he views the sonatas with sobriety but by no means dispassionately...Discreet ornamentation adds allure to music that offers both majesty and sweetness, and ranges from the grand gesture to Haydn's trademark high jinks” Gramophone Magazine, May 2010

“This beautifully recorded disc promises well for another classic Bavouzet set to complement his Debussy recordings.” Classic FM Magazine, April 2010

“Hamelin kicks off with the late C major Sonata, H50, nailing his virtuoso credentials firmly to the mast with a mercurial account of its opening movement. Some may prefer Schiff's more measured approach, but Hamelin's playing is dazzling, and his 'presto' finale is no less witty than Schiff's.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2007 *****

“Hamelin’s gift for making light of complex textures and technically taxing writing is here harnessed to music of Classical clarity and economy. It is without doubt one of his finest achievements—and that’s saying something. This cleverly chosen selection of diverse character is played with masterly resourcefulness. Hamelin can do deadpan humour (the finale of No 40) and brilliant note-spinning (No 32) like few others, but also finds a truly affecting wistfulness in some of the slow movements. Superbly recorded, this is a life-enhancing release” Classic FM Magazine

“The ever-phenomenal Marc-André Hamelin breaks out into the light with a two-disc set of Haydn sonatas … these are astonishing performances … Hyperion’s sound and presentation are, as always, immaculate” Gramophone Magazine

“For long confined to the by-ways of the repertoire, the ever-phenomenal Marc-André Hamelin now breaks out into the light with a twodisc set of Haydn sonatas. And unlike Haydn who considered himself less than a wizard of the keyboard, Hamelin is a prodigious virtuoso. Here, he remains one, in a full if not entirely inclusive sense, often susceptible to Haydn's wit, to vertiginous music which can veer to the right just when you expect it to turn left, and vice versa.
He is brilliantly alert to the first Menuetto from No 43, to a dance at once perky and serious, almost as if the composer with his toy fanfares was trying unsuccessfully to keep a straight face. And he can be hauntingly limpid and serene, as in the alternately calm and troubled Adagio from No 46. However, in No 23 one longs for Hamelin to relax his virtuoso prowess.
Here, there is an unmistakable sense of hurry, of Haydn's riches glimpsed rather than savoured, of a composer's piquancy nearly bustled out of existence. Others, too, have achieved greater grandeur in the final E flat Sonata or made the storm clouds scud more menacingly across the B minor Sonata's finale (Andsnes, Ax and, most of all, Brendel). None the less, these are astonishing performances. Hyperion's sound and presentation are, as always, immaculate.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Despite, indeed partly because of the imperfections there is an immediacy and intensity here as his 81-year old fingers feel their way from one musical configuration to another that is in a class apart from the well-engineered perfection of those younger players. Wayward, even bumpy through the unfolding of the exceptionally lovely slow movement of the Sonata in A flat may sound, the underlying grasp of direction and cohesion is all the stronger. One is compelled to listen.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2010 ****