Pianist Olivier Cavé had the wonderful idea of juxtaposing three sonatas from Beethoven’s first period – including two dedicated to Haydn, 1795 Op. 2 – and two of Haydn’s own sonatas, one from 1776 and the other from his great maturity in 1789. Of course the contrast couldn’t be greater, but the filiation is obvious, particularly regarding the freedom of tone, architecture, development and overall conception: usual standards don’t apply to the great Haydn, and seem never to have applied to Beethoven, even in his younger years. This may in fact be the main lesson young Beethoven gleaned from the old master – as we know how tense their relationship was, and started to wane from the end of 1795. Olivier Cavé, a disciple of Nelson Goerner, Maria Tipo and Aldo Ciccolini, gave his first concert in 1991 with the Camerata Lysy led by Yehudi Menuhin; his various recordings earned him several 5 Diapasons and Quatre étoiles Classica prizes, and his tours saw him perform around the world, from the San Francisco Symphony to the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, from New York to Tokyo and many other places in between… © SM/Qobuz