Don Satz wrote

>So, I now have Haydn piano sonata recordings that are on the same high
>level as Brendel's.  But, the similarites are such that having both
>pianists represents interpretive repetition.  If you have Brendel, not
>much is gained by having Schiff, and vice versa.

>I had a boss once who said, "Be careful what you ask for; you just might
>get it." I have that type of feeling at the moment.  But, I do expect with
>continued playing to notice greater areas of difference between Schiff and
>Brendel in secondary matters.

I haven't heard Schiff.  What I have heard is Brendel, Jando, Gould, Cload,
Ax and Timofeyeva.  I've said it before but Jano is the winner here for me.
Cload comes a close second.  I wish she'd recorded more.

There's nothing wrong with Brendel's technical mastery.  But I reckon
he's a bit too sugary for my tastes.  I wonder if he recorded Mozart first
because the approach is more suited to his sonatas.  The Philips sound
is a bit too warm for my liking far away from a 18c drawing room.

Gould is excellent.  He made it clear how much he loved Haydn (so did
Brendel but not quite with such enthusiasm).  But of course Gould's
humming is intrusive and apart from that the sound is just so so.

Cload is excellent too, with the benefit of superb meridian sound.

But, I feel that Jando on budget Naxos gets to the heart of Haydn's
personality in these works.  The little jokes and surprises are softened
by Brendel etc but Jando hits them head on.  Unfortunately on some of
the later issues in the series Jando's humming can be heard too.

I wonder if anyone can report on Buchbinder's complete Haydn sonata series?

What all these recordings are missing is authentic instruments.  I've got
a recording of the 7 last words piano version thus played.  It takes on a
whole new meaning.

Strangely several of the booklets with the recordings I've mentioned
above talk about Haydn experimenting with the sound of the newly invented
pianoforte even though the recordings on the disc use a modern piano.

Bob Draper
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