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Track(s) taken from CDA67710

Piano Sonata in G major, Hob XVI:39

composer
published in 1780 as part of a set of six dedicated to Franziska and Maria Katherina von Auenbrugger; 'Per il Clavicembalo, o Forte Piano'

Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
Recording details: August 2008
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: August 2009
Total duration: 15 minutes 58 seconds

Cover artwork: Portrait of Joseph Haydn engraved by F A Andorff by Carl Jäger
The Cobbe Collection Trust, UK / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘One of the outstanding releases of the Haydn celebratory year’ (International Record Review)

‘A marvellously polished collection of performances … he is a model of correctness, with enough wit, exuberance and the most exquisite lightness of touches to keep the music buoyant’ (The Guardian)

‘Hamelin is most associated with virtuoso fireworks for piano, but he can also miniaturise himself exquisitely to suit Haydn's wit and elegance … the spring in his fingers is delightful’ (The Times)

‘As always, Haydn's originality astonishes and delights in his piano music as much as in his symphonies and string quartets. Hamelin revels in the tongue-in-cheek high jinks of the finale to the E minor sonata (No 34) … and is especially compelling in the great C major (No 48) … works that rank with the finest creations of the Viennese Classical period. An unmissable bargain at two-discs-for-the-price of one’ (The Sunday Times)

‘The continuous outpouring of beautiful tone; it's mesmerizing … these performances are beyond criticism’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘They sound absolutely superb, in the right hands, on the modern grand piano. And Marc-André Hamelin has the right hands, as his first two-disc set showed … playing of crisp clarity and deep feeling, superbly recorded’ (Dominion Post, New Zealand)

‘This Hyperion double set contains some of the finest performances of Haydn sonatas I have heard. Hamelin's playing overflows with ardent lyricism and I especially enjoyed his naturalness of rubato. The close sound quality from the Henry Wood Hall is impressive and the booklet essay by Richard Wigmore is helpful too’ (MusicWeb International)
For the opening Allegro con brio of sonata No 39 in G major, Haydn resorted to a spot of self-borrowing, recycling the perky tune of the Scherzando second movement of sonata No 36 from the same, ‘Auenbrugger’ set. To deflect ‘the criticism of various half-wits’ (even as late as 1780 he could be surprisingly touchy and defensive), Haydn got Artaria to add an explanatory note on the reverse of the title page: ‘Among these six sonatas are two movements that use the same idea for the first few bars … the composer wishes it to be known that he has done this on purpose to demonstrate different methods of treatment.’ This is one of Haydn’s favourite rondo-variations designs, with embellished reprises of the theme interleaved with two episodes, one in G minor (in effect a free variation of the theme), the other, in E minor, taking the dotted rhythm in bar two of the theme as a cue for a swaggering Hungarian-style march. The C major Adagio, typically of Haydn’s sonata slow movements, lives more from florid, ruminative figuration than from cantabile melody, à la Mozart, while the finale is a playful, featherweight 6/8 Prestissimo with a delightful whiff of Scarlatti.

from notes by Richard Wigmore © 2009

Pour l’Allegro con brio initial de sa Sonate no 39 en sol majeur, Haydn recourut à un petit auto-emprunt et recycla l’air enjoué du second mouvement Scherzando de la Sonate no 36, également tirée du corpus «Auenbrugger». Pour détourner «la critique de plusieurs simples d’esprit» (encore en 1780, il pouvait être étonnamment ombrageux et susceptible), il exigea d’Artaria l’ajout d’une note au verso de la page de titre: «Parmi ces six sonates figurent deux mouvements qui utilisent la même idée pour leurs premières mesures … le compositeur souhaite faire savoir qu’il l’a fait exprès pour montrer les différentes méthodes de traitement.» C’est l’un de ces schémas en rondo-variations chers à Haydn, avec des reprises ornées du thème entremêlées à deux épisodes, l’un en sol mineur (en fait, une variation libre du thème), l’autre en mi mineur, qui emboîte le pas au rythme pointé de la mesure 2 du thème avec une marche bravache de style hongrois. L’Adagio en ut majeur, comme toujours dans les mouvements lents de sonate haydniens, existe plus par sa figuration fleurie, pensive, que par une mélodie cantabile, à la Mozart, cependant que le finale est un Prestissimo à 6/8, enjoué et léger comme une plume, avec une délicieuse bouffée de Scarlatti.

extrait des notes rédigées par Richard Wigmore © 2009
Français: Hypérion

Für das einleitende Allegro con brio der Sonate Nr. 39 in G-Dur borgte Haydn von sich selbst und verwendete die flotte Melodie aus dem Scherzando, dem zweiten Satz der Sonate Nr. 36 aus demselben „Auenbrugger“-Heft zurück. Um der Kritik von Schwachköpfen zu entgehen (selbst so spät wie 1780 konnte er überraschend empfindlich und defensiv sein) bat Haydn Artaria, auf der Rückseite des Titelblattes eine Erläuterung zu drucken, dass in diesen sechs Sonaten zwei Sätze einige Takte lang die gleiche Idee verwendeten, und der Komponist bekannt machen wollte, dass er dies absichtlich getan hätte, um verschiedene Arten der Behandlung zu demonstrieren. Der Satz steht in Haydns bevorzugter Rondo-Variationen-Anlage, in der verzierte Reprisen des Themas sich mit zwei Episoden abwechseln, einer in g-Moll (die effektiv eine freie Variation des Themas it), der anderen in e-Moll, die den punktierten Rhythmus im zweiten Takt des Themas als Stichwort für einen stolzierenden Marsch im ungarischen Stil auffasst. Das C-Dur-Adagio verlässt sich, wie für Haydn typisch, mehr auf zierreiche, grübelnde Figuration als kantable Melodik à la Mozart; das Finale ist ein spielerisches, federleichtes 6/8-Prestissimo mit einem bezaubernden Hauch von Scarlatti.

aus dem Begleittext von Richard Wigmore © 2009
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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