Haydn: Piano Sonata No. 50 in D major, Hob. XVI: 37

[gregwer]

Hey guys, I'd like to share with you my latest recording. It's the second out of five Haydn Sonatas I've recorded and plan to release in the next weeks.

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen!

[lelle]

I greatly enjoyed it! Great energy and forward momentum in the first movement, great expression and "seriousness" for lack of a better word in the second movement, and charming how you play with the different characters in the last movement

[pianistavt]

I should probably put this in the "unpopular opinions" post but I'll launch it here first - -  Not sure why contemporary performers adhere to the repeat of the exposition in classical sonatas.  Not sure it makes sense in this age of recordings and given that the pieces are over 200 years old - they are well known.  I was certainly taught that way, but it seems to be convention, rather than a thoughtful evaluation of what the listener experience might be...

Playing Haydn on a contemporary grand piano is in itself quite a challenge - excellent job - but if you want to up your game I would encourage you to try to get an even lighter touch and more nuance in your dynamics, maybe more sparkle in the sound.

[brogers70]

I should probably put this in the "unpopular opinions" post but I'll launch it here first - -  Not sure why contemporary performers adhere to the repeat of the exposition in classical sonatas.  Not sure it makes sense in this age of recordings and given that the pieces are over 200 years old - they are well known.  I was certainly taught that way, but it seems to be convention, rather than a thoughtful evaluation of what the listener experience might be...

Some reasons for repeating the exposition. (1) It's good music, why not hear it twice? (2) Even if you know the piece, it helps in following the development to have the exposition strongly in your mind (3) The exposition sounds different the second time round - for one thing it follows (usually) a dominant chord rather than silence. (4) The balance may get thrown off - the development and recapitulation were designed to be balanced with a repeated exposition - drop the repeat and home is not as well established and doesn't balance the rest of the piece.

But you are right in the sense that people's attention span has probably decreased a lot over the years (centuries) and so dropping the repeat may make it less likely that their minds will wander or they'll start checking their phones.