fave Haydn sons?

I’m looking into learning some Haydn, just after some recommendations as I don’t know them very well. Also who has recorded a good set ?

McCabe and Buchbinder have decent complete sets.

My benchmark in Haydn is still Richter. youtube.com/watch?v=lgU9DwHq8CE

pozz hob. 37 in d majah iz tha only one i evah playd fo a random exam back in tha day

but tiz a gud one iizc :lib:

A flat major <3

thanks guys, any other suggestions ?

My favourites are:

No. 31 in Ab
No. 37 in E
No. 39 in D
No. 44 in F
No. 47 in b
No. 48 in C
No. 60 in C
No. 62 in Eb

I know them as numbers 50 and 52 - I’m assuming you mean the ‘London’ Sonatas.
The numbers are all f’ed up.

Yeah, I tend to go by the Landon numbering. The Hoboken is too confusing.

Zhu Xiao-mei on Mirare has recorded a very beautiful set in my view

I forgot: Apart from Zhu Xiao-Mei’s selection I also like Koroliov (I have heard only one CD, but I think he’s recorded two by Haydn

Don’t bypass Gilbert Kalish’s - very refined playing.

To play, I’m a fan of both of the late E-flat sonatas.

Ranki on Hungaraton. These performances really changed my whole perception of Haydn’s style, and not just in piano music. For Ranki, Haydn is an intense, rather disturbing, maverick, with moments of almost manic drive. This is for me the most interesting way of reading Haydn’s music, and not just in the piano music. Ever since discovering the Ranki style I’ve been searching for other musicians who play him in the same way. And there are some – Van Beinum and to a lesser extent Munch in the orchestral music; Hantai and Levin and their companions in the trios.

Anyway the bottom line is that I think Ranki’s Haydn is the best recorded Haydn piano music since . . . ever.

He’s even better now than he was 20 years ago. I can let you have recordings of his Haydn concerts from the past couple of years if you want.

Other Haydn things I have enjoyed quite a lot:

Ernst Levy – very serious
Egorov – this one is extremely wonderful, and it is the greatest Haydn sonata too (33). The phrasing and colour are miraculous.
Pogorelich’s 19 – this performance seems to me to contain the whole of life, I go damp eyed just thinking about it.
Yudina – sui generis

Haydn things I have enjoyed much less

Giles Prague Spring recording – 33, so a great sonata and nearly as good as Egorov
Sokolov – I can let you have it if you want it. Maybe too romantic but he is entrancing and spontaneous and original.
Bilson’s second recording on ECM – not the first
Richter in Hungary in 1967 and in Moscow in the same year.
Bavouzet
Kuerti
Brendel
Timofeyeva
Fazil Say
Weissenberg on LP (the steely style is perfect for the music) You can get him playing some Haydn on an Ermitage CD which is almost as good.

Haydn things I haven’t enjoyed at all

Gould
Hamelin (the second 2 were better than the first 2 – but really I don’t much like any of it)
Pletnev
Horowitz
Backhaus
Koroliov

There’s some early Kraus which I would like to here – and I would like to here Klien too. There is also some stuff from Landowska which I haven’t heard.

Away from the sonatas there’s a wonderful set of variations recorded by Nathan Brand. He’s a very interesting pianist.

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Ronan O’Hara’s! Sublime playing.

37 cause I can play it :slight_smile:

Great compilation of 4 sonatas, agreed with the above post that Ranki ranks among the best interpreters!

The best solo Haydn I can remember hearing is in da Schiff lecture/rectal.
McCabe does not do it for me at all. Haven’t listened for ages, but vaguely remember finding it quite uninspired.
No point in offering an opinion on Brendel here.
De Larorcha’s dmaj cuncerto was great and just found this. Did she record any solo works?

For some reason, Haydn is a composer I enjoyed playing more than listening to.

It’s very interesting to hear Rosen in Haydn after reading his terrific book The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. Lovely A flat Sonata.


The trios can basically be counted as piano zons with the odd string stuff. Imo they’re as good as if not better than the solo zons.
Finally managed to team up a concert of them, so much fun to play and listen too!

I was wondering why I kept getting notifications for this, didn’t realise I’d started this thread. I never really got into that many Haydn sonatas, and I learnt them in a HIP way, since one of my teachers was a HIPster.