Chopin: 傅聪 Fou Ts'ong

One of the first recordings that earned Ivan Moravec acclaim and secured him a position among the finest pianists of the 20th century was the album of the complete Chopin Nocturnes made in 1965 in New York (Steinway) and at Vienna's Konzerthaus (Bösendorfer) for the Connoisseur Society label. Many critics have branded this recording a benchmark and consider it the ultimate account of the Nocturnes; in the words of Henry Fogel (Fanfare): "This is playing that draws the listener deeply into the music-you are not drawn into Moravec's achievement, but Chopin's." Ivan Moravec presents the Nocturnes in an admirable scale of colours and dynamics (down to astonishingly tender, barely touched tones), with the music flowing so naturally that it seems as though there are no bars or individual notes.

One of the first recordings that earned Ivan Moravec acclaim and secured him a position among the finest pianists of the 20th century was the album of the complete Chopin Nocturnes made in 1965 in New York (Steinway) and at Vienna's Konzerthaus (Bösendorfer) for the Connoisseur Society label. Many critics have branded this recording a benchmark and consider it the ultimate account of the Nocturnes; in the words of Henry Fogel (Fanfare): "This is playing that draws the listener deeply into the music-you are not drawn into Moravec's achievement, but Chopin's." Ivan Moravec presents the Nocturnes in an admirable scale of colours and dynamics (down to astonishingly tender, barely touched tones), with the music flowing so naturally that it seems as though there are no bars or individual notes.

The Tunisian-born French pianist Jean-Marc Luisada, a prize-winner at the 1985 Warsaw Chopin Competition, has earned an international reputation as a distinctive Chopin interpreter. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Luisada made a series of recordings for RCA: the complete Mazurkas, Waltzes and Ballades, the B minor Sonata and a chamber arrangement of the First Concerto (joined by the Talich Quartet), among numerous other works. MusicWeb International wrote that “the most stunning aspect of his artistry is his exploratory approach to Chopin. He uses every phrase to probe into Chopin’s sound-world and psyche, also displaying a total command of the keyboard’s resources.” As ClassicsToday wrote about Luisada’s Chopin: “The pianist compels you to listen.” All his RCA Chopin recordings are now reissued in a 6-album Sony Classical box.

Des enregistrements historiques fabuleux qui auront marqué l'évolution du piano, de l'enregistrement et de la lecture de chopin. Des interprétations globalement bonnes en ce qui concerne l'intégrale et, surtout, une classification qui permet d'ordonner aisément le répertoire de Chopin. Alors, bien sûr, il existe des interprétationsplus brillantes, plus prestigieuses mais ne dit-on pas aussi qu'il y a une certaine forme de subjectivité qui détermine un jugement? Ce coffret est un bon reflet de l'oeuvre de Chopin, honnêtement interprétée.

For while it would be idle to pretend that this 70-year-old virtuoso, struck down at the height of his career with psoriatic arthritis, still commands the velocity and reflex of his earlier years, his later Chopin and Liszt are a tribute to a devotion and commitment gloriously enriched by experience. The First Impromptu is piquantly voiced and phrased while the C sharp minor Etude, Op. 25 No. 7, could hardly be more hauntingly confided, more ‘blue’ or inturned. How you miss the repeat in the C sharp minor Mazurka, Op. 50 No. 3 (not Op. 15, as the jewel-case claims), given such cloudy introspection and if there are moments when you recall how Rubinstein – forever Chopin’s most aristocratic spokesman – can convey a world of feeling in a scarcely perceptible gesture, Janis’s brooding intensity represents a wholly personal, only occasionally overbearing, alternative; an entirely different point of view. Time and again he tells us that there are higher goods than surface polish or slickness and in the valedictory F minor Mazurka, Op. 68 No. 4 he conveys a dark night of the soul indeed, an emotion almost too desolating for public utterance… Janis is no less remarkable in Liszt, whether in the brief but intriguing Sans mesure (a first performance and recording), in a Sonetto 104 del Petrarca as tear-laden as any on record and in a final Liebestod of an exhausting ardour and focus.

Pollini's traversal of Chopin's 19 Nocturnes (he leaves out the pair of posthumous ones) is one of his finest recordings in years. His long-lined yet detailed performances are comparable to the very different ones that have long stood at the pinnacle of recorded sets. Not as serene as Artur Rubinstein's, not as philosophical as Claudio Arrau's, nor as warm as Ivan Moravec's, Pollini's interpretations have their own allure. One is the way he shapes the melodies with a natural flow enhanced by his tonal beauty, less lean and streamlined than his usual way with Romantic music.

This review is my celebration of two anniversaries. Composer Frederic Chopin was born 200 years ago, and this recording was made 50 years ago today. Chopin's piano concerto in F minor op 11, while carrying the number 1, was actually his second piano concerto. In any case it has always been my favorite of the two. The first maovement (allegro maestoso risoluto) contains a lenghthy (four minutes here) orchestral introduction and is by far the longest of the movements.

In 1994-95, Philips released a 20+ disc box set titled Richter - The Authorized Recordings. Each volume was divided up by various composers, and recordings ranged from 1963 - 1992. This album is a 3 disc set that contains works by Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin exclusively. The recordings range from 1966 to 1992, most of which are from recitals in the late 80s. At this point Richter’s career was certainly closer to its end and the reigning virtuoso he was the 50s and 60s was clearly on decline as is common with most aging pianists.

Paulina Viardot and Luigi Bordeses Chopin Mazurkas transcriptions attempted to bring the 19th c. style of vocal-instrumental chamber music closer to its then present-day listeners. Chopins settings to texts by Polish poets remain little known, particularly outside Poland; the transcriptions of his mazurkas for voice and piano, performed extremely rarely, have fallen almost into oblivion. Recorded using a historical Pleyel piano, these transcriptions aim to recreate the pleasurable listening atmosphere of those distant years.

When Pogorelich did not make the finals of the 1980 Warsaw Competition (where they play exclusively Chopin), his response was to sign with Deutsche Grammophon for his first recording and he made it an all-Chopin affair. From his stunning opening take on Chopin's Sonata #2, to a Funeral March restored to its grandeur, to the breaktaking final moments of the Scherzo #3, Pogorelich announced to the music world that he'd arrived.