Haydn: Piano Concertos Nos. 3, 4 & 11

Featuring

Bernard Labadie
Marc-André Hamelin
Les Violons du Roy
Joseph Haydn

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Compositional Technique

The finale of the D major Concerto, known as Rondo all'ungarese, is a flamboyant and humorous piece that outdoes others in its Hungarian gypsy style, with its main tune identified as a Bosnian or Croatian dance.

Composition History

The only works for keyboard and orchestra that are definitively by Haydn are the three concertos recorded here: the F major, G major, and the familiar D major.

Instruments

The concertos in F and G major were originally composed for harpsichord, like all of Mozart's concertos up to K271, but by 1787, publishers offered options for 'Piano-Forte' (fortepiano) as it gained popularity.

Composer Biography

Haydn admitted he was 'not a wizard on any instrument' and, apart from early organ concertos, did not write concertos specifically for his own performance.

Historical Context

In the late 1770s, Haydn's international prestige was so high that his name on a manuscript guaranteed increased sales, leading to unscrupulous publishers issuing many works falsely attributed to him.

Compositional Technique

Haydn's D major Concerto, Hob XVIII:11, features a 'tapping' figure of three crotchets in its opening Vivace that proves especially fertile, particularly in the rapidly modulating development section.

Performer Biography

Marc-André Hamelin, the pianist on this recording, is known for his matchless exploration of unfamiliar pianistic terrain and has received a lifetime achievement prize from the German Record Critics' Award.