'Haydn: Late Piano Works,' by Cooper

"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.