Haydn: Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 8 (2009)

Despite the "piano trios" element in the title and the repeated mentions of a piano in the booklet notes (in German, English, and French), these trios neither were written for nor are performed on a piano. Some of them are of questionable authenticity, but all date from the earliest years of Haydn's career, probably in the late 1750s, and are quite properly played on a harpsichord along with a period violin and, curiously, a modern cello. The mixture is reasonable enough, for the music is also a mixed bag. Most of the ... Read More

Despite the "piano trios" element in the title and the repeated mentions of a piano in the booklet notes (in German, English, and French), these trios neither were written for nor are performed on a piano. Some of them are of questionable authenticity, but all date from the earliest years of Haydn's career, probably in the late 1750s, and are quite properly played on a harpsichord along with a period violin and, curiously, a modern cello. The mixture is reasonable enough, for the music is also a mixed bag. Most of the pieces aren't even true keyboard trios but Baroque trio sonatas in a process of formal breakdown. Haydn several times opens a fast movement with a keyboard solo but then breaks off and notates the keyboard part incompletely, in the manner of a Baroque continuo. Elsewhere the right hand of the piano enters into the trio-sonata texture. This poses problems of balance that are only incompletely solved by the performers of the Trio 1790, although they are sympathetic Haydn players who capture... Read Less