Changing Tastes

One of the interesting things for me in this exercise is that it has crystalized to some extent how my tastes have changed and developed since I began collecting classical music. There aren't many ( any ? ) examples of things that I loved that I now hate but there are some where the passion has waned. On the other hand, things I was initially lukewarm about I now find to be most pleasurable. This disk is a case in point with Leif Ove Andsnes directing the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra from the piano in Haydn's Piano Concertos Nos 3, 4 and 11. Having had a misguided impression of Haydn as a worthy but somewhat "unsexy" unexciting figure, I 'm pleased to have seen the light. Ok, maybe he was more prolific than is good for a lasting reputation but those were the demands in his time. These concertos are fine examples of the less is more school of composing, probably influenced by Haydn's relative lack of virtusoity as a pianist compared to Mozart for instance. But in Andsnes he finds a like minded advocate who isn't bothered about subjugating his virtuosic gifts to the more refined cause of the music. Like much 18th century music, it always strikes me as being wonderfully civilised and sophisticated and it brings me up with a jolt to contrast this impression with the turbulent political, social and military background of the era.