VOLUME 10

Haydn's first ten 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.

VOLUME 1

The sonatas offered here are the final four, and they represent the pinnacle of Haydn’s achievement in the genre. One of them (No. 60 in C) requires a keyboard extending to the top A – a major third higher than was ever available to Mozart. Another (No. 62 in E flat) has the second of its three movements in the neighbouring key of E – an astonishing juxtaposition at the time. Jandó uses a modern piano, making full use of its wide dynamic range and potential for tonal variety, and very persuasive he is too, though some may think his jabbed staccatos and explosive sforzandi overdone, and his fast tempi (in, for instance, the finale of the great E flat Sonata) really are Allegro molto ‘stirling mosso’. Still, every note is in place, clear and unsmudged, helped along by Naxos’s crystal sound. The disc is notable for its refined playing and for Jandó’s unfailing sense of the music’s architecture. - Wadham Sutton, BBC Music Magazine

VOLUME 3

"Jando captures the vigorous energy of Haydn's E minor Sonata, HobXVI/34, well—especially in the finale... In the three Sonatas HobXVI Nos. 40-42, Jando's extremely satisfying precision in the passagework and thoughtful dynamic control overall effectively convey the music's dramatic variety... Although Jando may lack some of Brendel's emotional intensity, in the faster music, at least, he is scarcely less fine. Jando offers compelling accounts of this music, and I doubt that many will be disappointed with playing as disciplined as this—especially at the price." -- Gramophone

VOLUME 6

"These four sonatas were originally conceived for the harpsichord; the writing is much leaner than in the later works, and the ornamentation of the melodic line is well suited to the harpsichord’s lack of sustaining power. Jando seems to be influenced by the sound world of earlier instruments (both the harpsichord and the fortepiano) in that he employs a light touch with little pedal, and remains within a relatively narrow dynamic and tonal range... As in the earlier volumes Jando proves himself a fluent and stylish Haydn interpreter. His playing is restrained: you will need to look elsewhere for emotional intensity, vivid animation or tonal nuance, but for many listeners Jando’s gentle approach will be closer to the spirit of early Haydn." -- Tim Parry, Gramophone