Ballades

Ballades and Impromptus. Among the most suggestive of the titles Chopin bestowed on his works, they announce the poetic charge of two very different and contrasting genres. Where the Ballades are expansive and dense, with their dramatic power rooted in epic and legend and their bright or sombre hues, the Impromptus are light and concise, elusive and ephemeral, airy, fragile and volatile in texture, and with delicate touches of colour that spread joy, effervescent or serene, on the fleet wings of their melodies. These two aspects are but one at heart, though, in their essential romanticism, their lyricism and their roots in the fertile soil of improvisation, inseparable from the powerful inspiration that brought them into being.

Following the success of Jonathan Phillips’ debut release, Bach: Tranquillity, Divine Art brings you his carefully curated selection of Chopin’s finest ballades and nocturnes. This selection naturally follows Phillips’ debut as Chopin himself was known to be strongly influenced by Bach.

Chopin - 4 Ballades, Barcarolle, Fantaisie, Berceuse - Alexei Lubimov (1992) {2015 Erato Japan WPCS-16124}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 173 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 33 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1992, 2015 Erato / Parlophone / Warner Classics Japan | WPCS-16124
Classical / Romantic / Piano

Before Steinway grand pianos existed, two of the leading makes were Erard and Pleyel – both French. Chopin liked them for different reasons. Playing an Erard from 1837, the Russian-born pianist Alexei Lubimov finds more power than expected in the stormiest passages of the Ballades, but it’s in the mesmerising lull of the Berceuse that the instrument really comes into its own. Never has that left-hand accompaniment sounded quite so haunting, nor the right hand so silvery: these seem like the music’s authentic qualities, and there is no sense of struggle against a mechanical opponent.

Another example of superb programming, Piotr Anderszewski's Chopin recital on Virgin is brilliantly conceived and masterfully executed. Concentrating on the compoer's late works, Anderszewski's program starts with two sets of Mazurkas played with supple sensitivity and sympathetic poetry, builds through the last two Ballades played with dramatic intensity and terrific technique, climaxes in the last two Polonaises played with heroic grandeur and tremendous virtuosity, and closes with the tender and intimate Mazurka in F minor as an encore. Anderszewski's technique is imperious, his tone is sensual, his performances are emotional, and his interpretations are magisterial. Individually, each performance is strong and vital. Taken all together, the whole disc is more than the sum of its parts. Virgin's sound is warm but a bit close and sometimes a little too immediate.

Young Italian pianist Leonardo Pierdomenico drew the international spotlights on him winning the Jury Award at the recent Van Cliburn Competition. Having already won the prestigious Premio Venezia in Italy he steadily builds his career, playing recitals and with prominent orchestras.