Hyperion CDA 67882 (2 CDs for the price of 1) *****

Haydn’s piano sonatas are not the work of a keyboard virtuoso. And the “big statement”-style of performing them is one of their major enemies. Marc-André Hamelin may be a virtuoso, but he has divined well how to make Haydn’s sonatas sound their best. It’s not just that his articulation is clear and clean, his thinking is, too. There are very few moments when he pressures the music to yield more than it has to say, and the result is that it says a lot more here than it does in the hands of people who are more ambitious for it.

At the same time, his approach is anything but four-square. Without overdoing it, he plays with a gentle edge of unpredictability which brings a consistent air of freshness and variety to the music. This third volume of his ongoing survey includes 11 sonatas and covers more than three decades of Haydn's composing life. url.ie/4qdb