Haydn’s first 10 keyboard sonatas are unpretentious, inventive little gems. While they were written with the harpsichord in mind, Jeno Jando makes them sound perfectly pianistic without touching up the scores. On paper the left-hand parts don’t look terribly stimulating or special. Jando, however, shapes them in a way that articulates harmonic motion so that the steady rhythm never feels square. Fast movements are taken at dangerous clips, yet the scales and runs don’t smudge or misalign one iota. Add Naxos’ superlative engineering and you’ve got the finest volume so far in Jando’s Haydn cycle. Highly recommended. [3/3/2001]
