Haydn: Piano Sonatas

Haydn Meets the 21rst Century

I can't quit listening to these performances. I love them.

It is very interesting to read so many divergent reviews. That tells you something about the performance; and it is this: These are Sonatas by Marc-Andre Hamelin, based, note for note, on Haydn. And that's the kind of playing some will like very much and some will equally dislike. Glenn Gould, more than any other pianist, typified this sort of interpretation. At the extreme were his interpretations of Mozart and the late Beethoven sonatas. I happen to like his Mozart, but I would never try to defend them as anything Mozart would have remotely imagined.

I consider it the stamp of an artist. There are literally thousands of proficient, professional pianist who can play perfectly competent Haydn, and their playing is virtually indistinguishable. There is no mistaking Hamelin's performances for any other in the repertoire.

Hamelin's Haydn sparkles. Hamelin's Haydn can hardly keep himself seated on the piano bench - his wig falls off, the buttons of his waistcoat pop, he bounces gleefully as he plays. This is Haydn like you've never heard him - impish, vituosic, full of verve and spritely. His crescendos truly crescendo. His touch is light and coy.

To which I say: FINALLY.

I am *so* bored with all the polite, "mature", drawing room performances of Haydn. One of the more negative reviews compares these performances to Vivaldi rather than the "relaxed Josef Haydn". If that's the kind of Haydn you prefer (and this is the way Haydn has been performed for most of the 20th century) then you probably won't like these performances. For my part, I'm willing to go out on a limb and state that while Haydn was probably not as virtuosic as Hamelin, this is how contemporaries probably "heard" Haydn - exciting, impish, spritely.

I don't, in the least, find these performances vapid, senseless or just plain silly. Hamelin does not treat Haydn with the "reverence" some listeners might prefer. He meets Haydn like a delighted friend. I don't find the fast tempos silly. I find them energetic and joyful.

The playing is colorful with agile shading, the phrases and rhythmic ideas are impishly enjoyed. These are not the performances of a romantic.

I can well understand why some would not like these performances. Where I disagree is in the assertion that these are "bad" performances. They most definitely are not. They will appeal to some, depending on what they value, and they will definitely *not* appeal to others - most likely those who value a more romantic, nuanced and introverted performance. These performances are for the extrovert.

By the way, Haydn's life overlapped that of Vivaldi's. July 13, 2008

Cardboard, dinky, and silly

Mr. Grabowski wrote a decent review (September 18, 2007) of this CD. Except that I think both his comments and rating were a little too kind. This playing is vapid, senseless, and just plain silly in the extreme.

The tempos are so fast as to be downright silly. The reviewer who commented that there was no limit to presto doesn't seem to understand the classic-period definition of the term: to indicate a division of two beats per measure (whether 6/8, 2/4, etc.) in a fast movement. A presto in a Haydn sonata is not the same thing as a presto in a Mendelssohn Etude or Chopin Ballade. Hamelin just plays fast movements like an automaton, without any concern for musical direction, accents, dynamics, all the things that make music worth listening to.

Take, for example, the big late C Major sonata. The thirds in the first movement are not an exercise in thirds. Haydn indicates them as slurred in groups of two and played in a crescendo. Hamelin plays them without any attention to this detail, with a dinky, false staccatoey sound that so many of today's pianists seem to exhibit.

And like Mr. Grabowski, I too am not impressed by any technique here. Technique doesn not mean "fast" or "without any wrong notes." Are these aspects of technique? Yes. Can sloppy playing detract from technique? Yes. But equally, if not more important, are clarity, evenness, touch, dynamics, etc., and Hamelin misses the boat on all these. He doesn't hear the bass, and his right-hand playing has no real accents to give the playing meaning and direction. The playing is colorless with little dynamic shading, generally played at around a mezzo forte, and there isn't a phrase or rhythmic idea to be discerned.

All in all, what is really interesting here? Nothing. No matter what I say of course, I will probably be badmouthed for not giving it 5 stars (people who really listen and are critical usually are). Hamelin seems to be a central, almost cult figure in classical music these days, but I think we all need to listen to the mediocrity in piano playing that he represents beyond flapping his fingers to achieve breakneck speeds. May 19, 2008

Gorgeous playing

I can't believe the negative reviews here - I'm so glad I was not swayed by them. This CD is GORGEOUS. Elegance, humor, finesse, sensitivity, style, virtuosity, sense of form... it's all here. The slow movements are breathtakingly and achingly beautiful. I think Haydn's piano sonatas are sorely underrated - listen to these and hear why. March 26, 2008

Exquisite Haydn

For the life of me I cannot understand the reviews of these cds that claim Hamelin plays them too fast and mechanically. What exactly is too fast here? The slow movements and minuets are played, if anything, a little slower than usual. As for the finales, most of them are marked presto. How exactly do you play a presto movement too fast? I suppose they're referring to the opening movements, some of which are faster than usual. But what difference does a little extra speed make when it is balanced by such pointed phrasing? Hamelin's playing is simply something to marvel at-such beautiful sound and elegant phrasing. He fully captures the warmth of the slow movements and the bouyant humor of Haydn's finales. I was prompted to buy these cds after hearing Hamelin play one of them in New York last month. Until then I thought I had all the Haydn sonatas I need. But when I saw and heard what Hamelin did with the B minor sonata (#32 here) I knew I had to add this collection. The sound matches the performances in excellence. Forget the nonsense about excessive speed and treat yourself to these delightful discs. November 30, 2007

* * 1/2 Fast and brittle, which seems to be the way Haydn is played lately

This is Haydn presented at a gallop. Actually, sometimes it's presented at the speed of a 340HP DOC engine. I really can't understand what people get out of music like this, other than razzle-dazzle, definitely not what Haydn is about. Marc-Andre Hamelin's performances fly out of the gate, but the genial, jaunty and joyous qualities (not trying for alliteration there, it just fit) are lost. This is very one-dimensional Haydn, and the aim seems to simply be to play as quickly as possible.

Slow movements lack that soulful pensiveness. The allegro finales don't have the rollicking good time. The opening allegros don't have that philosophical quality. This is almost computer-like playing. It certainly doesn't bridge the gap from the Rococo to Mozart and Beethoven.

Some here are impressed by MAH's technique. I am not. To me he sounds colorless, brittle and sometimes even drops notes in very fast passages. I can't escape the feeling that if he were to slow down a little he'd not only not flub the occasional note but also play with more line, more tone and more attention to the big picture, the structure of each movement.

Richter, Ernst Levy, Mikhail Pletnev, heck even Emmanuel Ax have made better recordings, maybe not of all the sonatas here, but of enough that I feel no compulsion to keep this on my shelf. Someone else here mentioned Oort. I haven't heard his Haydn, but have been very impressed by his Chopin set as well as other recordings, so that may be worth checking out as well. But I'd avoid this set. Sound like the "classical" music they play in Starbucks. It's even super-caffeinated.

September 18, 2007

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