Haydn: Klavierkonzerte Nr. 2, 9, 11; Divertimento Es-Dur [Hybrid SACD]

Here's a hybrid SACD recording of some of Haydn's music for keyboard and orchestra, played with a small group of perhaps a dozen musicians and otherwise drawing on the insights of the historical performance movement as it applies to the early lassical period. The detail out of place is that German pianist Caspar Frantz plays a modern grand, ruthlessly reined in to a point where it fits seamlessly into the group. In a way this is a recording made for audiophiles; everything is smoothly burnished, and a good sound system (one wonders what may be possible on one better than the moderate device on which this recording was sampled) reveals a host of colors and spaces. What Frantz and the Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop do is turn the oncertos into hamber music, and indeed the Divertimento in E flat major for piano, strings, and horns, Hob. 14/1, that closes out the disc is not really cut from different cloth from the two early oncertos (from the late 1760s) included; all three works are examples of the galant style, in three movements, with plenty of inventive and even experimental details. The Keyboard Concerto in G major, Hob. 18/9, is quirky enough to have caused speculation that it was not by Haydn at all. The Keyboard Concerto in D major, H. 18/11, that opens the program is a later work, larger in dimensions, more imposing in tone, and clearer in structure than the other works; the homogenous sound of the performances minimizes these differences, and the soloistic element isn't even really clear in the earlier pieces. There's no denying, however, that this disc is a sonic delight. ~ James Manheim, All Music Guide