Haydn: Piano Sonata in c minor Hob. XVI:20

Haydn's c minor Piano Sonata (Hob. XVI:20) has been called, by the leading Haydn scholar Lászlo Somfai, the most significant piano piece between Bach's death and Mozart's mature Viennese sonatas. Peter Gradenwitz goes so far as to place it "at the head of the series of great piano sonatas of all time," and Ulrich Leisinger devotes an entire chapter to it in his exhaustive study on the subject. Indeed, with its deep expressivity and its novel and more intensive handling of dynamics, this sonata marks a breakthrough in Haydn's fortepiano style. Now the c minor Sonata is available in an inexpensive single edition. The musical text is taken from volume 2 of the Complete Piano Sonatas (HN 240) and volume 1 of the Selected Sonatas (HN 152).