Chopin

This Da Vinci Classics album comprises some of the most famous and beloved masterpieces not only among Chopin’s works, but also in the entire piano literature. True, piano literature without Chopin is hardly imaginable; but Chopin without his Ballades, his Scherzos and his Sonatas would not be Chopin. The programme is composed by four shorter works, each conceived individually while also being one in a set of four similar pieces, and by one larger creation, in the most important form created in Western music, i.e. that of the Sonata.

Chopin 24 Preludes, Ballade in F minor - Ivan Moravec (1988)
EAC Rip | FLAC (img + cue), LOG | TT 53:18 | Covers (jpg 300 dpi) | RAR 215 MB (3% Recovery)
Supraphon | Czechoslovakia | 11 0630-2 111 | 1988

Ivan Moravec (1930) is one of the most important Czech artists of today. He is often invited into the recording studios and his numerous recordings (which have mostly taken place in the USA) have brought him a large number of international prizes and honours. His repertoire includes a selection of the most important works from the Classical and Romantic periods as well as a number of compositions by contemporary composers.

Chopin, Scriabin - Preludes - Igor Zhukov (1991)
EAC Rip | FLAC (img + cue), LOG | TT 65:27 | Covers (jpg 300 dpi) | RAR 203 MB (3% Recovery)
Melodiya | USSR | SUCD 10-00108 | 1991

Igor Zhukov graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire in 1960 (piano class of Professor H. Neuhaus). The pianist is a laureate of the International M. Long Competition in Paris (1957). He is widely known in the Soviet Union and abroad appearing with concerts as a soloist, in ensembles.

Following her recent well-received Michael Nyman recording Chasing Pianos, Valentina now turns her attention to the Romantic Era and the Études of Chopin and Schumann. Chopin’s Études were the first to be seen as true piano works rather than merely studies. Quickly becoming a regular part of the concert repertoire, these are some of the most challenging and evocative works for piano.

This two-disc set, one of numerous crossover collections released by the Decca/Universal family of labels, bears the name of Russian pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy only in small print at the end of the list of pieces included. Newcomers to classical music can rest assured that they're getting a two-for-one bonus by purchasing Essential Chopin – not only an introduction to the Polish-French composer who helped elevate the small solo piano work to the pinnacle of musical art, but also a sampling of the talents of one of the great keyboard artists of our own time.

Chopin shaped his two extended cycles of études into a pianistic cosmos that has a unique place in the literature for piano. The études for solo piano feature many technical possibilities composed with an accomplished sense of style. However, the main focus in each of the compositions is musical expression. Mechanical passages are nowhere to be found. The rich timbres of Chopin’s virtuosity thus emerge as the basis for a nuanced tonal world blending Romantic sensibility with a manneristic stylistic approach. All in all: Chopin's études constitute a separate musical domain. They go beyond their own limits, reflecting on numerous other works by the composer in order to establish themselves as “stylistically anchored pillars” within his piano aesthetics. Chopin redefined the genre. Without his pianistic and tonal innovations, the originality of later études – one need only think of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Debussy and Ligeti – would probably be unimaginable.