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Haydn - Piano Concertos Nos 3, 4 & 11

£13.60

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Label: Hyperion

Cat No: CDA67925

Barcode: 0034571179254

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 2nd April 2013

Works

Haydn, Franz Joseph

Piano Concerto no.3 in F major, Hob.XVIII:3
Piano Concerto no.4 in G major, Hob.XVIII:4
Piano Concerto no.11 in D major, Hob.XVIII:11

Artists

Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)
Les Violons du Roy

Conductor

Bernard Labadie

Works

Haydn, Franz Joseph

Piano Concerto no.3 in F major, Hob.XVIII:3
Piano Concerto no.4 in G major, Hob.XVIII:4
Piano Concerto no.11 in D major, Hob.XVIII:11

Artists

Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)
Les Violons du Roy

Conductor

Bernard Labadie

About

Marc-André Hamelin has proved himself - in three lauded volumes of Haydn’s piano sonatas - to be a formidable Haydn pianist, combining style, exuberance and dazzling technique with a palpable sense of joy in the music. Now he has recorded the composer’s three most popular concertos.

This release is the fruit of a partnership with the award-winning Canadian chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy and their director Bernard Labadie, whose previous recordings for Virgin Classics and other labels have received the highest critical acclaim.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Piano Concerto in D - I.Vivace
2

Piano Concerto in D - II.Un Poco Adagio
3

Piano Concerto in D - III.Rondo All'Ungarese
4

Piano Concerto in F - I.Allegro
5

Piano Concerto in F - II.Largo Cantabile
6

Piano Concerto in F - III.Presto
7

Piano Concerto in G - I.Allegro
8

Piano Concerto in G - II.Adagio
9

Piano Concerto in G - III.Rondo: Presto

Europadisc Review

In recent years, the Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin has built an enviable reputation as one of the most talented and versatile musicians of his generation. His recordings for the Hyperion label range from Haydn sonatas, through the great Romantics and the turn-of-the-century Russian school, to the music of Frederic Rzewski.

In his latest recording, Hamelin turns his attentions from Haydn’s sonatas to his even less well-known concertos. Originally composed for either harpsichord or the newly ascendant fortepiano, Haydn’s surviving ‘piano’ concertos have been whittled down in number over the years on stylistic grounds, and now number just the three works on this disc.

The concerto genre was never as well suited to Haydn’s thematically concise and intensive style as the symphony, and only the famous Trumpet Concerto has enjoyed any widespread lasting popularity. Yet, if they lack the entertaining wit, polish and consummate architectural mastery of his symphonies and quartets, these are nevertheless highly engaging works. The earliest of the three piano concertos, in F major, was probably composed in the mid-1760s, whilr the G major dates from about a decade later, and the D major (No. '11') from the early 1780s — about the same time as the Opus 33 string quartets.

Hamelin is accompanied here by the Quebec-based Violons du Roy under their music director Bernard Labadie. Playing on modern instruments, they are however thoroughly versed in the niceties of baroque and classical style, and provide immensely persuasive accounts of these underrated works.

Best of all is the D major Concerto which opens the disc. Scored for an orchestra of strings plus pairs of oboes and horns, this is Haydn at his best, with a light, animated opening that brims over into the first forte tutti, and — once the soloist enters — material is tossed playfully between piano and orchestra. A widely modulating development section is built around the three-note ‘tapping’ figure that rounds off the main theme: a particularly Haydnesque way of getting a lot out of a very little. The deftly-scored slow movement blossoms with poetry, and here as in the first movement uses a cadenza by Wanda Landowska — a nice touch. The popularity of this particular concerto in Haydn’s lifetime surely owed much to the finale, a lively Rondo all’ungarese played here with tremendous zest, style and good humour by Hamelin and his colleagues, complete with gypsy-style drones, inflections and slapped strings.

In the F major and G major concertos, the orchestral palette is more limited (just strings alone), but these are lovely, graceful works in the early classical style, with cantabile slow movements and animated, playful finales. When played with the abundant sensitivity on display here, they can hardly fail to captivate; Hamelin, Labadie and the musicians of Les Violons du Roy are ideal advocates throughout.

The recording, made in Quebec’s Palais Montcalm, is nicely focused but still warmly atmospheric, and there are full accompanying notes by Richard Wigmore. Whether you want to explore Haydn’s output or the wider classical concerto beyond the more standard fare, or simply enjoy some delightfully cultivated music-making, this is the disc for you!