When he switched from the harpsichord to the fortepiano in the 1780s, Joseph Haydn found he had a rich palette of sound colours and dynamic variations at his disposal, and he employed them enthusiastically in his C-major Fantasy. This piano piece, composed in early 1789 in a “whimsical hour”, was intended by Haydn to meet with approval from “both connoisseurs and amateurs” – not least because it is “not too difficult”.

Christine Schornsheim provides historically accurate fingerings. This stan...