Search - Haydn, Ohlsson :: Haydn: London Piano Sonatas

HOBSON'S CHOICE

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 04/01/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ohlsson's recital of Haydn sonatas offers, as everything this master pianist does, unique revisionist insights, coupled with deep sensitivity and emotional commitment. The rollicking C Major, for example--- with its "tick tock" opening movement motif in a rather delirious perpetual motion, its slow movement contrastingly romantic and noble, and the finale, with its clever hesitations, pauses and runs--- is freshly characterized and memorable. The darker D Major, with its keen aura of Beethoven, is thoughtful and presciently subtle; and the wonderful E flat--- with its opening magisterial and development winningly inventive, its slow movement elegant and imaginative, and its finale infectious--- are equally rewarding. Keyboard coloration, articulation and voicing, always Ohlsson trademarks, as well as an uncanny breadth and expressivity, bring to these Haydn sonatas a balance poised perfectly between energy and repose.



The Variations in F minor, at nearly eighteen minutes, are ruminations finely wrought, full of incidental detail, wisdom, and all gorgeously performed. The Adagio in F, too, is superb, its meditative nature beautifully realized.



Although recorded in a resonant acoustic, Ohlsson's Haydn is a frontrunner, regardless, simply because the artist, himself, never fails to satisfy or illuminate.



[Running time: 67:05]"