Haydn: Piano Sonata No. 42 in G major, Hob.XVI:27

The multi-award-winning pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet continues his great survey of Haydn’s piano sonatas. This is Volume 3 in a series, of which The Times wrote: ‘Who is the best composer for refreshing the spirit and making you laugh? Haydn, of course, especially when in the hands of a pianist like Bavouzet, another master of delight.’

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 nuance 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.’

For the recording of this series, Bavouzet brought in a specially selected Yamaha piano which he feels gives the sort of tonal quality he is looking for, and once again this shows in a programme, which here presents the large-scale Sonata in C minor alongside sonatas of a lighter and sunnier character.

This programme, recorded in May 2009, spans the Baroque and Classical periods and features suites and sonatas by three of the supreme composers who celebrate significant anniversaries in 2009: Purcell, Haydn and Handel.

In Trevor Pinnock’s words: “Initially the idea of marrying these three composers seemed crazy. But then I realised the connections. How much Handel was influenced by Purcell, incorporating Purcellian progressions in his music. And how much Haydn had been influenced by Handel. I saw the link from Purcell’s choral music to Handel’s oratorios, which in turn inspired Haydn to produce ‘The Creation’ and ‘The Seasons’. But what tipped the balance for me was that story of Haydn, when in London, accompanying a song on the pianoforte by Purcell, and saying proudly that he did it all by himself. I found it fascinating that he’d actually touched music by Purcell in 1790 - and that he’d found it very difficult. As a musician, I could feel for him”

“Once in a while a reviewer receives a record that strikes him as being so exactly right that, without switching off his critical faculties, he finds himself just sitting back and enjoying it. In an ideal world this would doubtless always be so; but I must thank Trevor Pinnock … for this particular contribution to my personal Utopia” Gramophone Magazine

Released in the 200th anniversary year of Haydn’s death, this new release features pianist Tzimon Barto playing a selection of the great Classical composer’s piano sonatas.

Tzimon Barto is celebrated for his “refreshing” approach (American Record Guide) to known repertoire.

Barto’s highly personal approach to these works – which he has devoted himself to for much of his career – enables the listeners to make their own “unexpected encounters” with these works. Making no attempt to be “historically correct,” Barto focuses instead on his discovery of impressionistic elements, as well as inspiration drawn from theatre and painting of the period.

Tzimon Barto is recognised as one of the most radiant and unique personalities in the music world. His two previous recordings for Ondine – keyboard pieces by Rameau (ODE1067-2) and piano works by Ravel (ODE10952) – have received high levels of acclaim; critics have hailed Barto’s musical maturity, superb technique, and endless colour palette.

On this recording the sonatas in D, G, C and F are performed on a fortepiano by Johann Schantz now in the Holburne Museum in Bath. It is thought to have been built in 1795 and is one of four surviving examples; there are two in Vienna and another in a private collection. The E-flat and A-flat major sonatas are performed on a delightful unnamed fortepiano in the remarkable private collection of Michael Turner. The instrument, a wreck when first discovered, was restored by Michael Cole. The instrument is thought to be Northern Italian and around 1790 or even earlier.