Haydn Jando

Naxos began its Haydn series with his last four sonatas, perhaps to tempt listeners into investigating the series. Jenö Jandó, the house pianist for Naxos, has maintained a surprisingly high standard in his many previous recordings, but in Haydn he outdoes himself. He has obviously studied these pieces well, and he plays them as individual works, with intelligent and meaningful characterization of each and a good appreciation of Haydn's sparkling wit. This is indeed a good place to start investigating Haydn's piano sonatas, since each one on this disc is a masterpiece. But so are many of the others in this series.

The exquisite, classical balance evident in these six sonatas makes them rewarding examples of Haydn's exploitation of the piano's broad expressive range and rich textural variety. This volume in Jenö Jandó's complete edition presents these pieces in a compelling, moderninstrument version. For example, there's brilliance and sparkle in the opening movements of the D major and E flat Sonatas; warmth and dramatic intensity in the slow movements (most notably in the Baroque echoes of the Sonatas in C major and D major), and an appealing blend of wit and elegance in finales such as the third movement of the D major Sonata.

Haydn’s first 10 keyboard sonatas are unpretentious, inventive little gems. While they were written with the harpsichord in mind, Jeno Jando makes them sound perfectly pianistic without touching up the scores. On paper the left-hand parts don’t look terribly stimulating or special. Jando, however, shapes them in a way that articulates harmonic motion so that the steady rhythm never feels square. Fast movements are taken at dangerous clips, yet the scales and runs don’t smudge or misalign one iota. Add Naxos’ superlative engineering and you’ve got the finest volume so far in Jando’s Haydn cycle. Highly recommended.

Jeno Jando hasn't recorded Haydn's Sonatas in numerical order, so Volume 8 brings us a group of relatively early works. These pieces don't have the personality or inventiveness of Haydn's late Sonatas, but they do have charm and grace and a few ideas of their own. They aren't the pieces to start off your Haydn Sonata collection with, but when you do get to them you will find them most pleasant companions. Although Jando seems to be recording the entire classical period literature for Naxos, he takes an individual approach to each of these works and plays them with plenty of personality, never trying to bring more to the music than it contains. The performances and finely- recorded sound are very satisfying.

This disc, Volume 3 of the series, contains five sonatas and the work usually known as Andante and Variations in F Minor, here with the early title Un piccolo divertimento. Whatever you call it, it's a highly unusual piece, variations on two themes each so long that they are varied only twice. It's also one of Haydn's most deeply emotional piano works, and contrasts nicely with the quirky two-movement sonatas that make up most of the disc. As before, Jenö Jandó's performances treat each work as an individual and characterize each one convincingly. These are among the best Haydn piano discs in the catalog.

Jando is confirming his reputation as a fluent Haydn interpreter, wholly in sympathy with the composer's musical language.

Naxos isn't recording Haydn's piano sonatas in order, but the first three volumes are all devoted to his late sonatas. These are generally shorter than the ones in Volume 1, which is why there are six sonatas here instead of four. Otherwise, the same comments apply to this disc as to the first. Just because Haydn's forms here are somewhat more compressed than in the last sonatas doesn't mean these are inferior pieces, just that they are shorter. And once again, Jenö Jandó never sounds as though he is just reading through the music; he knows each piece and gives it its own character.

In addition to some 47 keyboard sonatas, Haydn wrote a variety of other pieces including arrangements of earlier orchestral or chamber works, and dances intended for occasional use. The 10 kleine Klavierstucke (10 Little Piano Pieces) contain five symphonic movements- including the second movement from one of his most popular, No. 53 in D major, known as L’Imperiale- a single movement from a string quartet and three extracts from his witty Eszterhaza opera La vera constanza. The dance movements were popular in Vienna’s many ballrooms. This is the penultimate release in Jeno Jando’s project of recording the complete solo piano music by Joseph Haydn. Of the complete piano sonatas release, Audiophile Audition commented: “Jando is every inch the professional, his years of experience and his muscular playing full these [works] with vivacious life.”

This is, like the others in the series, deserves the warmest possible recommendation.

This is a beautiful, atmospheric performance with evocative, church-like (but not mushy) sound…