Haydn: Piano Sonata No. 47 in B minor, Hob.XVI:32

“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

“This disc offers delectable performances of five shrewdly contrasted works: two troubled, trenchant minor-key sonatas from the 1770s juxtaposed with a pair of lightweight pieces from the same period and culminating in the great E flat Sonata.
Andsnes is responsive to the individual character of these sonatas, to their richness and variety of incident, and their sheer unpredictablility. With his wide spectrum of colour and dynamics he makes no apologies for using a modern Steinway.
But his playing, founded on a pellucid cantabile touch and diamantine passagework, marries classical refinement and clarity with a spontaneous exuberance, a sense that the next phrase is yet to be created. Andsnes is always ready to add stylish and witty touches of embellishment to the repeats. The opening movements of both minorkey sonatas have a lithe, sinewy urgency, above all in the vehement sequences of their developments, together with a rare delicacy of nuance: and here, as elsewhere, you notice how alive and concentrated is his piano and pianissimo playing. Andsnes brings a bright, buoyant yet lyrical approach to the E flat Sonata's outer movements, to the wonderful Adagio a limpid line, a subtly flexed pulse and, in the B flat minor central episode, a true sense of passion. This is just the sort of playing – joyous, imaginative, involving – to win Haydn's sonatas a wider following. The recording of the E flat, made in a church in Oslo, has slightly more ambient warmth than that of the remaining sonatas, recorded at EMI's Abbey Road studios. But throughout, the piano sound is natural and present without being too closely miked.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“In one particular way, these performances of Haydn's Sonata Nos 59 in E-flat Major, 54 in G Major, 47 in B Minor and 40 in E-flat Major are the antithesis of scholarly. Well, they are scholarly in the best sense, but are also free of any stuffiness or dryness, as Geoffrey Lancaster unleashes two reproductions of late 18th¬century fortepianos to bring out as much of the diversion, wit and unceasing drama that can be summoned from these scores. These are very free readings, seeking to express Haydn's amazing reservoir of lively inventiveness. As part of his musical adventure, Lancaster reverts to a very old musical practice of adding a short Prelude before each sonata. Some of these are based on old original preludes from other hands; some are composed by Lancaster himself at the keyboard. And in another reversion to historical practice, he resiles from a literal reading of the score to add appropriate improvised embellishments.” Anthony Clarke, Limelight, January 2012

“Lancaster’s brand of lyricism is unusual: hard-edged, hard-fought and hard-won, making for a different kind of expressiveness. It’s not beautiful but it holds your attention. A continually wayward individuality is stressed.” MusicWeb International, July 2012

“The vitality of spirit that characterises this entire disc is immediately evident in the opening bars...Sudbin’s touch is impeccable and deft, the piano tone both lucid and rounded, the ornamentation crisp, his senses alive to the nuances that make this music limitlessly fascinating.” The Telegraph, 4th June 2010 *****

“Keyboard dexterity can naturally be taken as a given from a pianist who excels in the Russian Romantics; but let us not forget that Sudbin opened his account on records with...Scarlatti and he locates in Haydn's piano music the same mercurial shifts of mood and colour...Sudbin is always a compelling presence” Gramophone Magazine, August 2010

“...the liberties rarely sound wilful, almost always revealing alternative insights, whilst Sudbin's handling of his potential heavy modern Steinway D grand is a delectable display of crispness, lightness, luminosity and affectionate songfulness...there is never a dull moment on this disc.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2010 ****