Haydn: Sonatas & Variations

Featuring

Leon McCawley
Joseph Haydn

Did you know?

1/7

Composition History

Haydn first applied the term 'Sonata' to his solo keyboard works around 1770, marking the beginning of the genre's first great era.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded at St. Catherine's School, Bramley, Guildford, on May 21 and 22, 2016, with Siva Oke as Recording Producer and Paul Arden-Taylor as Recording Engineer.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Haydn claimed that he turned to the piano every morning to try out his musical ideas and apply formal innovations from his orchestral and chamber works to his solo keyboard compositions.

Performer Biography

Leon McCawley, the pianist on this recording, won First Prize in the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna and Second Prize in the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1993 at age nineteen.

Historical Context

Haydn's development of the piano sonata was assisted by the concurrent evolution of the pianoforte, which offered more expressive possibilities than earlier keyboard instruments.

Composer Biography

Haydn, though not a keyboard virtuoso like Mozart or Beethoven, was the first great composer to establish the solo piano sonata genre.

Critical Reception

Despite their musical quality, the more than fifty piano sonatas by Haydn and over twenty by Mozart are still not as widely appreciated as they should be, with a few exceptions.