Having given us a really impressive survey of Mozart’s piano sonatas, Bezuidenhout turns his attention to Haydn’s keyboard output—with even greater rewards. The first thing that strikes you here is the sound of his modern Czech copy of an 1805 Anton Walter fortepiano. With a bell-like top, a gorgeous midrange, and a rich, twangy bass, it’s ideally suited to this infinitely varied fare. Bezuidenhout celebrates the music's humanity, beauty, and wit in a brilliantly compiled program of two sonatas, a partita, and two sets of variations.
- Alexander Melnikov & Isabelle Faust
- Midori Seiler & Concerto Köln
- Kammerorchester Basel & Giovanni Antonini
- Isabelle Faust, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck & Xenia Loeffler
- Ronald Brautigam, Die Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens
- Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Gábor Takács-Nagy & Manchester Camerata