Leon McCawley - Piano Sonatas 3 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce the third volume in Leon McCawley's much praised series of Franz Joseph Haydn's Piano Sonatas. Six Sonatas, spanning the years 1767-84, are featured the earliest No.31 in A-flat major, the latest No.56 in D major while Robert Matthew- Walker provides fascinating booklet notes describing the multifarious effects on his music of Haydn's enthusiasm for equal temperament. Sonata No.31 in A-flat major is, he says, a continuation of Bach that seems to bypass Mozart and anticipate early Beethoven InchAstonishingly original music, and not just for it's timeInch. The two-movement Sonata No.32 in G minor is a unique and intimate work while No.34 in D major boasts an innovative tonal scheme that disguises it's virtuosity with immediately approachable technique. The F major Sonata No.38, notes Matthew-Walker, is Inchfull of that wonderful combination of inner life and directly human expression that is the essence of HaydnInch. Two later Sonatas - Nos.55 (B-flat major) and 56 (D major) - arguably saw romantic sonata form tested to it's expressive limits by InchHaydn's original geniusInch and his Inchthematic developmental-variation technique even today causing surprise for it's profoundly original subtletiesInch. Volume I was recognized with a coveted Diapason d'Or from Diapason magazine, which enthused InchWhat a range in his interpretation and how many layers of gradation! McCawley ties these together in a special quality of inflexions which make their point with great intelligibility and sensitivityInch. BBC Music Magazine declared Volume II Inchshould stand high on any listInch of quality recordings of Haydn, adding Inchthe sparkle of McCawley's touch is instantly apparentInch. Gramophone also commended McCawley's playing, describing it as Inchlight of touch, stylistically assured and brimful of intelligence and witInch.