Haydn: Complete Keyboard Music, Vol. 07 - Artur Balsam

JOSEPH HAYDN Complete Keyboard Music Vol. 7 liner notes

Second in the set of six sonatas (numbers 36-41) Haydn dedicated to his employer, Prince Esterházy, the Sonata number 37, in E major, has an attractive harmonic coloring which suffuses the bustling quality of its opening Allegro moderato...The first movement of Sonata number 38, in F major, starts in Haydn's most jaunty style. This is a virtuoso piece, with brilliant passage-work and exciting coloristic touches (such as the deceptive cadence in measure 29)...The opening Allegro to Sonata number 39, in D major, is neatly organized, and toccata-like, with a brief but attractive canon on the main theme in the development section...Accomplished keyboard writing is the special quality of Sonata number 40, in E flat major. Despite the overall masculine quality of the first movement, there is also a trace of wistfulness.