Haydn: String Quartets Op. 20, Nos. 1-3, "Sun Quartets"

"The Kodaly Quartet seem very much at home in this music, which they approach with affection, yet with an appealing directness which leads to playing which is perfectly integrated, yet fresh. The recording could hardly be bettered: the balance is most natural."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

"The Kodaly performances are all enjoyable. The B flat major is remarkably successful, with a vigorous opening Vivace assai and a rapt Adagio."

-- Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

Haydn: Piano Sonatas Nos. 48-52

Haydn: Piano Sonatas Nos. 53-56 and 58 / Un Piccolo Divertim

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Franz Joseph Haydn.

"The Kodaly Quartet are fully worthy of the composer's inexhaustible invention and make a splendid bargain recommendation. Their playing brings joyful pleasure in Haydn's inspiration and there is not the slightest suspicion of over-rehearsal or of routine: every bar of the music springs to life spontaneously, and these musicians' insights bring an ideal combination of authority and warmth, emotional balance and structural awareness."

Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

Such distinguished soloists would not have given their attention to this unfamiliar music unless it had been of high quality, and that is just what it is. The four ''London'' Trios of 1794-5 were really written for two flutes and cello, but they are none the worse for the flute/violin contrast. Trio No. 4 has only one movement (Haydn must have meant to write more), the other three, and their ebullience taxes the technique of all the players most agreeably, the humorous finales being a particular joy. The 'divertissements', also in three short movements, are from a set of six written in 1784, but much of the inventional comes from the opera Il mondo della luna and one of the baryton trios and so is much earlier still. The sleeve-note confuses by describing first what you think are the ''London'' Trios, but which turn out to be the unmentioned divertimentos; also timings of the movements and the complete works are chaotic. This of course does not matter; what does is that the music is so delightful and so beautifully played and recorded.'

-- Gramophone [10/1985]