Chopin: 傅聪 Fou Ts'ong

Any new recording of the complete Nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin rouses the interest: in the field of countless existing recordings, does the pianist have something new to say? Inspired by but not imitating the great masters of the Golden Piano Age, Vincenzo Maltempo presents the Nocturnes as dramatic tone poems with a strong narrative, based on the art of rhetoric and Belcanto. As a means to the expression of his ideas, he found an 1888 Steinway grand with an exceptionally wide dynamic range and singing tone. The result is an enervating and moving journey through these eternal masterpieces!

There has never been a more exciting pianist that Martha Argerich. Throughout her career, any appearance by her guarantees sellout crowds and an evening of memorable, not to say insane, music making. She has always drastically limited her repertoire about a dozen concertos, a few more solo and chamber works and will not perform or record solo recitals at all any more. But every single thing that she has recorded is a prime recommendation, plain and simple. She's one of the very few artists whose recordings one should collect just because of whom she is: unique and incomparable. These two concertos perfectly illustrate her gifts as an interpreter. Your ears will be glued to your speakers.

This 5 CD set brings together Martha Argerich’s complete studio, live and radio recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, and documents her special, intuitive and passionate relationship with Chopin’s music.

Back in the fifties my music master took me to the Royal Festival Hall to hear Georges Cziffra. This momentous occasion was as much a political event as a musical one. Having recently breached the 'iron curtain' in a dramatic escape to the West from his native Hungary (where he had recently been imprisoned) in the aftermath of the 1956 revolution, the press had hyped him up into a newly discovered world class virtuoso cum freedom fighter. He fell into the role with much aplomb.

When the name Chopin is mentioned, what often comes to mind first are his Nocturnes and their dreamy qualities. Chopin, of course, wrote much more than that, and some of it is quite dramatic and intense. However, Daniel Barenboim seems to have missed getting that memo before recording Chopin's Preludes and the other works on this album. There is both drama and intensity in at least a few of the Preludes, often overdone, but not here. Those marked agitato, Nos. 1, 8, and 22, are placidly performed, with little impetus to them, while the "Polish Dance," No. 7, has no strength in it. No. 12 in G sharp minor has a little more energy, and No. 16 has a little more forcefulness, both coming closer than the other Preludes to living up to their potential.

This Sony-made 30CD classical music collection covers almost all classical music, from the early Baroque period represented by Bach to the schools of classical music by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms represent romantic, national and even modern musical schools led by Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, etc. representative, everything wonderful and vivid.

Any new recording of the complete Nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin rouses the interest: in the field of countless existing recordings, does the pianist have something new to say? Inspired by but not imitating the great masters of the Golden Piano Age, Vincenzo Maltempo presents the Nocturnes as dramatic tone poems with a strong narrative, based on the art of rhetoric and Belcanto. As a means to the expression of his ideas, he found an 1888 Steinway grand with an exceptionally wide dynamic range and singing tone. The result is an enervating and moving journey through these eternal masterpieces!

Yunchan Lim is the one of the most talked-about classical artists on the planet. In 2024, he presents his debut studio album on Decca Classics - the Chopin Études, Op.10 & Op.25. "To me, Chopin is a composer who yearned for the past. I wanted the album cover to feel like solitude and nostalgia, and to look like you have come across an old photo." - Yunchan Lim

Bella Davidovich (born in 1928) won the prestigious Warsaw International Chopin Competition in 1949, sharing first prize with pianist Halina Czerny-Stefanska. This is a rare recording of Chopin's two Piano concertos, with a warm sense of music. The piano has a weak presence, as if Chopin himself were playing. The London Symphony Orchestra, under Sir Neville Marriner, is not only an accompanist, but it has a full powerful presence. Enjoy this jewel!

Polonaise: almost always, as soon as the word is uttered, it conjures up the name of Frédéric Chopin. And what could be more natural with a creative genius who was constantly attracted to the genre? His first work, published in Warsaw, was entitled `Polonaise for pianoforte dedicated to her Excellency the Countess Victoire Skarbek by Friderik Chopin, aged eight years'; and right up to the concluding Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op.61, fourteen other similar compositions had punctuated the all-too-brief career of the Polish maestro.