Leif Ove Andsnes plays pianoconcertos by Joseph Haydn:

Joseph Haydn:

Pianoconcerto no. 3 in F-major, Hob. XVIII:3

Pianoconcerto no.4 in G-major, Hob.XVIII:4

Pianoconcerto no.11 in D-major, Hob. XVIII:11

Leif Ove Andsnes, piano & conductor

The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

2000. EMI Classics CDC 556960 2 (fullprice)

Last year Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes released a disc containing five of Haydn's pianosonatas. I must admit to my initial sceptisism; this young musician, however eminent, had up till now roamed the romantic realms, but had little to show for outside this, recordingwise. My slight hestitation could hardly have been more misplaced. I had heard about Andsnes playing Haydn at the Bergen Musicfestival a couple of years back, but I still had him safely catalogued under 19th. century in the back of my head. I have now updated the sorry state of my cerebral musical catalogue. Leif Ove Andsnes have proved himself as elegant, playful, lighthanded and brilliantly virtuoso as any interpreter of the much neglected pianomusic of Joseph Haydn. Andsnes released his Haydn sonatas at the same time as Andras Schiff released his on Teldec. A double treat in other words for the lovers of Haydn - or rather for any lover of great pianomusic.

Even before I heard about Andsnes' recording of the sonatas, I heard about the recordingsessions in the Lommedalen chapel, right outside Oslo - of some of the concertos for piano by the very same Haydn. A bonus was Andsnes' choice of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, a superb ensemble, mysteriously without a longterm recordingdeal with one of the big companies. Anyway I heard the news, but myself and other devotees of equal curiosity had to wait for almost two years to finally hear the results of this promising collaboration. And I dare say it was worth the wait. We have with this release been presented with an album saturated with youthful vivacity - a disc brimming with elegantly proportioned ludus and whit - a soloist with a rare gift of breathing life into the music, all governed by that very artist's impeccable taste.

The pianoconcerto is hardly the genre one associates with Joseph Haydn. The master of the stringquartet and the symphony has a less illustrious career as a composer of concertos for the keyboard. The three works on this disc: the 3rd, 4th., and 11th. of the 14 concertos listed in Hoboken's catalogue, are all probably from the hand of Haydn, allthough only no.4 survives in autograph manuscript. I personally find the problems around authentication of works, musical or otherwise to be prosaic, and of minimal interest. Our only concern should be the quality of the work, not to whom one can attribute it. If the music is great, its creator is of secondary importance. Although Haydn's concertos have languished in the monumentalshadow of his contemporary colleague Mozart, and probably allways will do so, they should not be ignored, atleast not when performed like this. Andsnes taylors his performance closely after the demands and suggestions presented in the score, and remains truthful and dedicated to all three works. The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, follows with close rapport. They are well articulated and give the pianovoice their finest support. Their ensemble is tight and firm in all aspects, and they play with great zest and flexibility. Andsnes' brilliance and virtuosity is razorsharp and he articulates his voice outstandingly. Not a pedestrian passage in sight.

Leif Ove Andsnes is without doubt my prime choice in the 3rd. and 4th. concerto, but my longterm loveafair with Martha Argerich's account of the 11th. (EMI) is hard to replace. I find it difficult to compare the two versions - they are very different in mood, especially in the 2nd. movement where Argerich have chosen a cadenza almost jazzlike in its hauntingly beautiful tranquility, whereas Andsnes walks a less contemplative path, perhaps more in line with the rest of the work. They are both veritable accounts, and I wouldn't be without either of them.

I'll gladly rank Andsnes' Haydn alongside his superb Janacek, Nielsen and Schumann recitals. He has proven himself an unusually versatile and complex artist, with an everpersent concern for the music itself. His truthfulness and good taste, has taken him into the premier league of pianists, and has with this Haydn recording added a recent Gramophone-award for best Concerto album to his already impressive merits. I eagerly await his next release, whatever repertoire he may chose to enlighten us with.

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