Philip Peters wrote:

>>*Never* listen to John McCabe, the *butcher* of Haydn sonatas.

Don Satz replied:

>...But, as I remember, his reissued set of Haydn's piano sonatas received
>moderate to good reviews.  So, could Peter give us a little more of the
>"scoop" on McCabe's butchering process?

I am sure Philip will, but let me add my 2 cents worth.  I looked
for years for McCabe's Haydn Sonatas, and was ecstatic when I found a copy.
I was despondent after listening to the first couple minutes of the first
disc, especially after laying down $$$ for what I recall as an at least 10
disc set.  In a nutshell: boring, stiff, lacks spirit and grace, stilted,
humorless, technically challenged, missing any sense of elan or wit.  I
suffered through every disc of the set trying to find SOMETHING worth all
the fuss.  I didn't find it.

My preferred versions include the 4 disc Brendel set, Richter's on
Decca, Pletnev on Virgin and various other individual perfromances.

JPrevite