Have a break, have a Brendel. Alfred Brendel in Joseph Haydn.

Sometimes you get a brief break during which you can listen to some music. On your headphones, in the kitchen, in bed even. And a short playlist can be very fitted for that. Years ago I made a quick Debussy fix playlist, now it are the 1985 Haydn recordings by now retired pianist Alfred Brendel, who always excelled in this repertoire. Starting with the most well known piano sonata (also a piece many people played when they had five of six years of piano lessons), the D major Hoboken 37 sonata. Then a set of moving variations in f minor, allegedly composed by Haydn as a reflection of Mozart’s death, and his masterpiece, the E flat sonata Hoboken 52. 

I hope you will enjoy this Brendel-break!

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Tracks 01-03 Piano sonata in D major Hob. XVI: 37 (before 1780)

Track 04 Andante Con Variazioni In F Minor Hob. XVII: 6 (1793)

Tracks 05-07 Piano sonata in E flat  major Hob. XVI: 52 (1794)

Alfred Brendel, piano

Recorded in 1985

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6bDR7942uv7AbxOayYz3fv?si=a899f9672e024278(47 minutes of a Brendel-break through a Spotify weblink)

A one hour Spotify playlist with works from the classical period. Clementi, Mozart, Pleyel

Born before Mozart and living past Beethoven, Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) had a fruitful long musical life. Mozart envied his technical abilities behind te pianoforte and Beethoven was introduced to the early sonatas by Clementi by his teacher Christian Gottlieb Neefe. The Capriccio in E, op 47 no 1 is from 1821 and more a “free form sonata” in three parts. The symphonic caracter of this work is captured by the pianist Howard Shelley.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) composed the String Duo No. 2 in B-flat major for violin and viola, K. 424, during the summer of 1783. This work was the second of two duos he wrote to complete Michael Haydn’s set of six for Archbishop Colloredo. Michael, the younger brother of Joseph, was sick and unable to finish the requested 6 sonatas, only having composed 4. Mozart surprised his friend by composing two additional sonatas in 5 days…

The String Quintet in F Minor, is part of Ignaz Pleyel’s (1757-1831) collection of chamber music from 1786. It is scored for a string quartet (two violins, viola, and cello) with the addition of an extra viola, creating a quintet. A remarkable French “stürm on drang” work in three parts.

Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)

Tracks 01-03 Capriccio for piano in E, op 47 no 1 (1821)

Howard Shelley, piano 

Recorded 2011

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Tracks 04-06 String Duo No. 2 in B-flat major for violin and viola, K. 424 (1783)

Sarah Kapustin, violin 

Roeland Jagers, viola

Recorded 2020

Ignaz Pleyel  (1757-1831)

Tracks 07-09 String Quintet in F Minor, Ben 277 (1786)

Janáček Quartet

Miloš Vacek  Vítězslav Zavadilík, violin

Bohuslav Matoušek, Jan Řezníček, viola

Břetislav Vybíral, cello

Recorded 2013

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7i1gTJcGI0Ngl0JDb0Cb5U?si=b31675752a0f40d6Spotify HTTP link