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"Haydn: Late Piano Works"
Gary Cooper, fortepiano
Channel Classics, $24.98
Fortepiano music is an acquired taste, maybe even moreso than music for harpsichord. At its best, it was an instrument of great promise but limited expressive scope, even when composed for and performed by a genius like Haydn or Mozart. This program of late Haydn pieces for fortepiano is fascinating for amateur music historians but won't hook many general listeners, not for lack of trying by Cooper, who plays an instrument vintage 1785 in this recording.
The Sonata in E flat major is the highlight of the program, and the most idiosyncratic -- Cooper, well-known as an early-music expert and harpsichordist, wrings an excess of drama out of Haydn's score, written at a time when Beethoven was revolutionizing the form on bigger, bolder instruments. You can almost hear this piece as a death throe for an instrument and an era whose time had come and gone -- and fortunately is preserved forever, for those who want to hear it.
Haydn: Italian Arias
Thomas Quasthoff, Freiburger Barockorchester
Deutsche Grammophon, $16.99
Who knew? "Papa" Haydn, aside from being the inventor of the symphony and string quartet, perfecter of the classical style, creator of "The Creation," etc., also was a darn good opera composer. He was impresario as well as composer for the Esterhazy opera house from 1775 to 1790, and during that time he wrote seven operas, in addition to others before and after. Haydn also touched up operas by Salieri, Bianchi and others. Quasthoff and the Frieburger orchestra present a fascinating range of work, from buffa tunes such as "Mi dica il mio signore" that come straight from the world of "Don Giovanni" to a touching duet, with soprano Genia Kuhmeier, from "Il Mondo della Luna" (The World on the Moon).
Quasthoff, the German baritone who earlier this year was heard in Haydn's "Creation" in London, has the warm, rich tone and geniality of expression to make all these roles come alive on disk; if only we could see some of them on stage.
"Bel Canto"
Elina Garanca, mezzo-soprano
Filarmonica del Teatro Cumunale di Bologna
Deatsche Grammophon, $16.98 There's nothing Latvian mezzo Elina Garanca can't do in the bel canto repertoire, as far as I can tell -- her hauntingly dark voice, her amazing range and vocal agility, as well as a musical intelligence that comes across blazingly clear in her interpretations, makes her ideal for just about anything Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini can throw at her. This album for Deutsche Grammophon digs deeper into the early 19th century repertoire for exquisitely lovely and unfamiliar pieces from Rossini's "Maometto II," where Garanca is joined in the superb trio by soprano Ekaterina Siurina and tenor Matthew Polenzani. The most heart-stopping track is the romanza from Bellini's "Adelson e Salvini," which the notes say was performed from the original manuscript. Roberto Abbado's conducting of the Bologna opera orchestra is exceptionally sensitive, to the point where it seems the singer is leading the orchestra with each breath and gesture.
