Haydn: Fantasia in C Major / Menuetti

Haydn’s career coincided with changes in the standard keyboard as the fortepiano, and then the pianoforte, replaced the harpsichord and clavichord. This album reflects these changes. Haydn probably wrote the charming 5 Variationen in D major for the harpsichord around the mid-1750s while the Fantasia in C major, with abundant hand crossings and effects, was intended to exploit the particular sonority of the fortepiano. In 1792 he wrote new dances for a Viennese masked ball and the Empress herself asked for keyboard arrangements which Haydn provided in the shape of the sparkling Deutsche Tänze and Menuetti.