Ryan mentioned Haydn's concertos in the Concertos thread, but I've noticed that Haydn is not often mentioned here. Perhaps his 60 odd piano sonatas don't represent his very best work, but many are gems. I really love his string quartets, symphonies, masses and his magnificient oratorio, The Creation. To me he is in no way the poor cousin in the first Vienesse school, though he often seems to he regarded that way.

Any other devotees of Haydn out there?

Yok:

While I have recordings of 27 of the Haydn piano sonatas, they are not works that I listen to frequently - well crafted though they may be - and none of them, yet, have inspired me to the point that I want to play them, even though I have the scores of the complete sonatas. I did play the D major concerto at one time but it, as well, is not a work that inspired me at the time, and I've never had any great urge to go back to it.

On the other hand, some of the middle and late symphonies are wonderful works which easily bear repeated hearings, and I know I could never go for any length of time without listening to the string quartets. In my opinion - and for my taste, the Haydn string quartets are among the finest ever written in the genre.

And "The Creation" is one of the great oratorios; I've heard it several times in performance and I own two good recordings of it; it never fails to move me deeply.

Haydn will forever hold a place in music history as the "father" of both the modern symphony and the string quartet. Perhaps his genius in these genres overshadows his efforts in works for keyboard instruments. There are some - but not many - pianists who play his works, and it would be interesting to determine whether its because the works themselves are less satisfying to play (performance pieces), or because they are not satisfying to listen to (public popularity), or both. For his rather large output of piano sonatas, the currently available recordings represent a rather skimpy collection. I think Jando on the Naxos label is in the process of doing the complete sonatas; otherwise, Ax, Richter, Gould, Brendel, Andsnes are the few only well-known names that have recorded a few - a very few - of the sonatas. There must be good reason for that.

Regards,

Sometimes there are good reasons things are not played, or overplayed, sometimes not. I really enjoy some of the Haydn sonatas I've heard and played, in a way I find them more appealing than Mozart. I do agree that Haydn really shined in symphonic and chamber music, but then Mozart's piano music is not among HIS best either, IMO, I understand Mozart better when I hear his symphonic or chamber music, and his operas. I also like a good deal of Clementi's music, and that's not played much either. Is it as 'good' as Mozart's music? Possibly Mozart expressed the musical language of his time more aptly than Clementi, but Clementi's music is still very worth listening to, especially if you like piano music. Clementi was really a pioneer on the instrument in a way that Mozart never was, and he forever left his mark on the pianists that came after him.