Alfred Brendel - Haydn: Piano Sonatas Hob. XVI:52, XVI:40, XVI:37 (1985)

Every work here is a delight for different reasons, and three of them are more than that: the sonatas #s 40 and 52 and the Andante con Variazioni. Two are brief: #37 (10:33) and #40 (12:14). #37 is a charmer,with a brief Largo amidst two an open Allegro con Brio and a closing Presto-ma non Troppo. The outer movements are effervescent and quite memorable-the Finale slightly more than the first movement. #40 is divided between a nine minute first movement (Allegro e Innocente) and a three minute Presto. I have long considered it Haydn's Pastoral Paradise sonata-Wordsworth might have agreed. The first movement is one of Haydn's most beautiful and haunting, a preview of the Finale of Mahler's Symphony #4.

#52 and the Andante con Variazioni are masterpieces. Written in 1793 and 1794, they
possess qualities of the concurrent London symphonies and final six masses.#52, one of the final three-the order is unclear- is a longer work (21:13) which mixes gravity-especially in the second movement Adagio-with joy (especially in the whirlwind Finale. The ACV is Haydn's greatest shorter piano work and his most profound. It breathes mourning and sounds like late Mozart -the Rondo K511 more than
the darker than dark Adagio k540

Brendel is ideal here and in the three other discs of the set. He is technically flawless, grasps overt and implied meanings, and plays with life-affirming energy, power, poetry and charm. I consider him the greatest Haydn pianist.