Haydn: Piano Sonata No. 38 in F major, Hob.XVI:23

This is Volume 4 in Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s project to record the complete piano sonatas of Haydn. The last volume in the series (CHAN10689) was a Critic’s Choice in Gramophone, an Instrumental Choice in the magazine BBC Music, Editor’s Choice in the magazine Classic FM, and Recording of the Month in MusicWeb International.

In the words of Bavouzet himself: ‘Each volume of this ambitious, extended project will arrive over the years like a postcard, dispatched during my travels with scant respect for chronological considerations, but undertaken with the greatest passion for trying to convey as vividly as possible to twenty-first-century ears the boundless treasures of this sublime music.’

He also notes: ‘We often forget how little information Haydn left us in the scores of his keyboard works: few indications of dynamics or of phrasing, and the briefest guides to tempo. This task is never anything other than absolutely fascinating, but for the performer it is also testing, and even risky. He must, even more than usual, create his own world, his own logic, left only to hope that, in the absence of tangible evidence, he will not distance himself too far from the composer’s intentions, which remain forever unknowable.’

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet received a BBC Music Award in 2012 and a Gramophone Award in 2011 for his recording of works by Debussy and Ravel (with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Yan Pascal Tortelier). His recording of Bartók’s Concertos (with Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic) was short-listed for a Gramophone Award, and he has won multiple awards for his recording of the complete works for solo piano by Debussy, including a BBC Music Magazine Award for Volume 3 and a Gramophone Award for Volume 4.

This is the second installment of Géza Anda’s recordings from the archives of the SWR. His early reputation was built upon his unrivaled mastery of the great Romantic repertoire. His infallible sense of form, and understanding of the inner workings of the music and his brilliant, unsentimental performing style have influenced subsequent generations of pianists. These are recordings from 1950, 1951 & 1955.

Nicolai de Figueiredo was born in Brazil and studied music there, coming to Europe in 1980. He has performed throughout the world as soloist and conductor and his recording of 13 Sonatas by Scarlatti received the CHOC de l’Année 2006 from Le Monde de la Musique as one of the ten best recordings of the year.

Anton Kuerti was born in Austria, grew up in the USA and has lived in Canada for the last thirty five years. His teachers included Rudolf Serkin and he performed the Grieg Piano Concerto with Arthur Fiedler at the age of eleven. He has toured throughout the world and as a chamber musician has performed with artists such as Gidon Kremer, Yo Yo Ma and Barry Tuckwell.

2009 was the bicentenary of the death of Joseph Haydn, and to commemorate this anniversary Tall Poppies and fortepianist Geoffrey Lancaster are journeying through Haydn’s complete keyboard sonatas. Lancaster has performed the complete sonatas in concert series in Melbourne and Canberra, and has been recording the works using period instruments from the unique collection of early keyboards at the Australian National University School of Music, where Dr Lancaster is Head of Keyboards. As a master of the fortepiano, his historically informed performances bring clarity, originality and insightful musical understanding to these works, the fortepiano responding with gusto to the drama and emotion in the music. Tall Poppies is proud that the covers for this series feature paintings by Australia’s great painter, Fred Williams (with kind permission of Lyn Williams), giving this series a uniquely Australian flavour. The initial CDs have been generously supported by the Friends of the ANU School of Music.

Stefan Vladar continues this series. In 1999 he was appointed as professor of piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 2009 he received the Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria.