Haydn & Mozart: Fortepiano

Excerpt from the CD booklet essay by Trevor Stephenson:

The selections in this recording are mostly miniatures. Only Mozart’s Adagio in B minor stretches to ten minutes, and his Fantasy in D minor —the second longest work here, at nearly five minutes—is more of a compressed opera. Such a collection brings into relief an important stylistic difference between the two masters. Haydn’s musical language is inherently terse and motivic. The energy comes not in long waves but in bursts. His style is more suited to shorter forms, and in creating miniatures he has a home-field advantage. Mozart’s style is naturally much broader. He is a consummate musical dramatist who gravitates toward larger forms. When he chooses to write in shorter forms, the results are fascinating, for we can often hear him straining for more room while he nevertheless makes brilliant solutions every step of the way.