Haydn:Piano Sonatas (Hob. 32, 47,53,59)

Franz Joseph Haydn (Composer), Emanuel Ax (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Emanuel Ax
• Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn
• Audio CD (September 6, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000293M
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,539 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AX CONTINUES HIS EXCELLENT HAYDN TRAVERSAL, November 30, 2000

By 

Melvyn M. Sobel "Melvyn M. Sobel" (Freeport, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Haydn:Piano Sonatas (Hob. 32, 47,53,59) (Audio CD)

I was very much impressed by Ax's genuine feel for Haydn in his first CD of sonatas, and the way he caressed the music. It all seemed perfectly balanced. My own love for Haydn's sonatas goes back years (and years). Raised on the old Vox Box sets, with Klien, Kyriakou, Galling, given to me by my father (may he be sitting next to Poppa Haydn somewhere in the celestial firmament), I could never find a pianist who duplicated the sonatas as I remembered them.

Until I heard Ax play.

Listen, for example, to his handling of the Adagio E Cantabile from Sonata No. 59 in E-flat, or the perky Allegretto from Sonata No. 32 in G Minor. This is radiant, love-filled playing that comes through absolutely.

If we keep our fingers crossed, maybe Sony will be smart enough underwrite a complete Haydn Sonatas series with Ax. This would be something worth waiting for!

Excellent, warm, comfortable sound, sans ambience. Highly recommended.

[Running time: 61:02]

7 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Listen first...., June 25, 2006

By 

John Willoughby "Zebrafish Mutant" (Amherst, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Haydn:Piano Sonatas (Hob. 32, 47,53,59) (Audio CD)

I read numerous rave reviews about this disc before I bought it.
The pieces are interesting and varied, the playing and recording quality is of course excellent, but...

...I don't enjoy listening to it that much, and it's one of those forgotten discs that gets pushed to the edge of the shelf. I don't know what it is. To my ear Ax's playing doesn't feel so sympatheitc, rather it seems to be more an intellectual exercise (that often bandied about criticism).
I don't know what the problem is - I have several discs of Haydn sonatas that I just enjoy more, for instance Jando's Volume 10 on Naxos, which is wonderful (the best of his volumes). But these are earlier, simpler sonatas, as compared to these later ones.
Maybe it's just my taste - there are certainly plenty of people out there who know their Haydn and like this disc, but I'm not one of them. Rather than say 'don't buy this', I'd instead urge potential buyers to listen to as much of it as they can first and then make up their minds.