Haydn: The Complete Piano Sonatas

Haydn was not a pianist of any distinction, nor a very successful composer of instrumental concertos, but his piano sonatas--and there are more than 60 of them--are much finer than those of Mozart, who was one of his era's greatest keyboard virtuosos. The reason for this is simple. Mozart wrote his keyboard concertos for himself and his sonatas for students. Haydn, on the other hand, was constantly stimulated to write piano music for gifted amateurs, though in those days amateurs were often as good as the professionals, particularly women for whom a concert career was out of the question. This is great music then, charming but never trivial, and John McCabe plays it with impressive style and vigor. --David Hurwitz Amazon.com

This set is quite nice.

I recently attended a 'Keyboard Conversations' concert given by Jeffrey Siegel during which he played several pieces by Haydn. He talked about the sixty-two piano sonatas that Haydn composed, and later that day I decided to purchase a set on Amazon. I was able to get this twelve CD set from a Marketplace seller for less than $50 new. I have listened to most of it, and I'm impressed. The piano is not 'twangy' as one reviewer stated. I find the sonatas and variations fascinating and a pleasure to listen to. The set is compactly packaged, and the discs are placed in envelopes with the work titles on each. This set is well worth the money, and I must say I enjoy John McCabe's playing. In short, this set is highly recommended! October 3, 2008

Very disappointed

Bought these after much "research" and having read lots of reviews. The playing is fine. The sound of the piano however is cheap and tinny, not as bad as one person said as an 18th century pianoforte I guess, but bad enough that I hate listening to them, no warmth or feeling at all. They are VERY twangy. And this is some of my favorite music, I like these better than Beethoven's and as much as Mozart's. I am very disappointed - but only in the sound of the instrument. It's not Ax or Andsnes. I wish desperately that it were. February 10, 2008

Nice Set...not a great performance

As a pianist myself, I was very interested to listen to Mr. McCabe when preparing my M.M. degree recital, in which I performed Haydn's Sonata in E minor, Hob:XVI/34 (I will refer to the sonata by the Landon number rather than the older Hoboken number).

Mr. McCabe certainly plays quite cleanly, as one would expect in this day and age. In addition, he provides extensive program notes (Mr. McCabe is a respected musicologist)

Unfortunately, Mr. McCabe isn't quite the performer one would expect to produce the entire output of Haydn's Sonatas. First of all, his tempos are usually not well suited to the music's style (whether in the Allegros or Adagios). Though this has somewhat to due with his lesser technical ability, it also has to do with his idea of interpretation, which to say the least, is quite boring. In the Sonata No. 34, the opening movement has a very particular character. Though it is one of Haydn's few sonatas in a minor key, the opening motive returns in many forms throughout the first movement. Mr. McCabe seems to miss the point of this, along with the importance of articulation (which is of utmost importance in the music of Haydn).

Mr. McCabe uses far too much pedal throughout (especially in the first movement). In the second movement, his imprecise pedaling detracts from the recitative quality (this movement being influenced from Haydn's knowledge of vocal writing and operatic traditions). The third movement is quite slow and the lively character is missing.

I don't believe that one can put Mr. McCabe's recordings on a level with great Haydn interpreters such as Ax or even Richter (with far more color and more adherence to the musical style). This is unfortunate as it comes from such a respected musicologist.

As a final note, it is nice to own this collection to have all Haydn's Sonatas and his output for piano at your fingertips, but I would recommend Ax (or Andsnes in the future...his Haydn Concertos are fantastic). May 8, 2005

Much unknown music to assimilate

I can partially share one reviewer's opinion that much of this music seems repetitive and certainly that is somewhat the case, but I only listen to one disc at a sitting. It takes time to get to know these sonatas. The Mozart sonatas are more widely performed, and therefore known to the music listening public. At this point in my experience, I must admit that I prefer the Mozart sonatas, but I am gaining an appreciation for those of Haydn.

The quality of the recording is good with very little background noise or noticeable distortion. The piano seem OK for the type of music and if one reviewer thinks these are twangy, listen to these sonatas on an eighteenth century pianoforte.

Mr. McCabe is a competent player without any idiosyncracies which seems in keeping with these sonatas.

I received a boxed set that had two disc sixes and no disc three. Ah, German precision. April 18, 2005

the greatest penny a note composer

I have listened to all 62 sonatas for keyboard and perhaps 3 of them rise to the level of wonderful composition. If you listen to them you hear he doesn't really "get started " until about sonata 32, compared with say Beethoven who except for 3 or 4 composed 32 of the greatest piano sonatas the world will ever hear. I have attempted to give Haydn a fair hearing for symphonic ( boring ) and keyboard works but for the most part he must get the award for not really being able to put 2 consecutive asthetic notes together. The Nelson Mass is very nice. And I know in his last years, Europe just adored him. He was earning upward in todays dollars of $85,000, which just galled Mozart.Finally the sonatas are performed and recorded well.Before purchasing these sonatas listen to the clips and see if you dont want to run screaming into the night, but if you are a boring person with absolutely no musical asthetic, these sonatas cant be beat! April 1, 2005

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