Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner The best CD of Haydn Sonatas?

Few would argue that:

Gould nailed Bach.
Gieseking nailed Ravel.
Rubenstein nailed Chopin.

Who nailed the Haydn Sonatas?

Emmanuel Ax and Brendel are nailing them currently.

Richter and Landowska are also wonderful.

There is an old set of LPs by Artur Balsam. I'm pretty sure they're impossible to find, but they're really excellent.

Richter.

His two CDs on the Decca label contain the most incredible Haydn playing I've ever heard.

Disc 1

Disc 2

The most recent Ax disc was sublime, the others outstanding. Brendel and Schiff are also excellent and Andsnes did a recording four or five years back that is worth hearing.

Brendel, Brendel and only Brendel. They are soo amazing that Koji agrees with me.

Gilbert Kalish's recording is also very fine.

Richter tops all in this repertoire. Agreed that Brendel is excellent too. Richter, however, reins here.

If you don't have to have "the best" - which is a very subjective judgment, anyway - Jando has been doing (has completed?) the Haydn Sonatas on Naxos. You can't go wrong with their price, the sound is good, and I have no complaints about his performances.

Regards,

Another vote for Brendel and Richter. Gilbert Kalish is also quite good.

koji (STSD)

BruceD,

I thought the thread asked for the best. I just jumped in to share my personal preference. Just IMHO stuff...

Yes, Andrew the thread's poster did ask for "the best" but since that's so subjective - as you see there already are different "bests" - the best might also be Jando on Naxos for its overall value

Regards,

I heard Jando in some Haydn trios recently - very fine, I thought. I wouldn't be surprised if his solo Haydn is good.

For now, my vote also goes to Richter: The Ubiquity.


David

I agree with Richter. He is "da man" for Haydn (and Schubert, for that matter)

I have a recording of H-XVI-52 by Kissin that I think is extremely good.

Please don't buy the set by McCabe. It's not so good.

Thank you

Let me elaborate on what I meant when I used the term “nailed”.

When most people think of Chopin they think of Arthur Rubenstein.
Sure, there are other superb, worthwhile and insightful interpretations.
But when a newbie wants to buy their first and likely their last CD of something and asks you which pianist played Chopin the best, Rubenstein comes to mind first more often than any other pianist.

Sure a group of experts who own a comprehensive collection of Chopin CDs by five different pianists can go back and forth for hours on which is best.

So I'm not looking for a bargain price, or the best digital audio quality, or a revolutionary interpretation.

Just *the* definitive Haydn Sonata CD set.
I want the set that Haydn would buy.

The Brendel is 4 CDs for $75 on Amazon, no problem.
Can I assume this must include *every* Haydn Sonata?
Are the other CDs 4-CD complete sets?
I would prefer a complete set.

BTW I am buying it to get introduced to the music
I've been studying piano for 5 years and my teacher says I could use a Haydn Sonata now.
I am not familiar with them.

Would Henle be the edition of sheet music to buy?
Or is there a non-urtext edition you recommend?
Again price is not a consideration.

Kenny :

If you are just beginning to get to know the Haydn sonatas, why stick to one "complete" set? Why not buy some individual CDs by various (recommended) performers. You may get a "better" introduction to Haydn that way. You may also find a performer whom who prefer in this repertoire and then - since price does not seem to be a factor - search out his/her complete set.

Regards,

Time and hassle and room on my shelf.

I'd rather just buy one set of all the sonatas.
The best set.

If I buy less than the complete set I don't get to hear them all.
What if I would have prefered to learn Sonata X but it wasn't on the CD?
I'd never hear it.

Kenny:

Fair enough! But, as soon as you buy it, someone will say to you: "That's not the best set; the best set is ... "

Cheers!

That's fine.

If I get 10 opinions I can count up which pianists gets the most votes.

Then I buy it.

Then I forget about it.

Kenny,

By far the best edition of the Haydn sonatas is the Vienna Urtext edition. It comes in 4 volumes (1a, 1b, 2, and 3) and was prepared by Christa Landon.

I'll also second the nomination for the Brendel set. You should also be aware that a "complete" set of the sonatas on CD is not really possible, since we only have fragments of some and not all scholars agree on how many there even are! (It's hard to prove that some of them were really written by Haydn, and new ones have even been discovered in the last 20 years...)