Chopin: Waltzes

Fittingly titled With Affection, Nina Kotova's latest album for Delos is a glorious showcase of some superlative cello works that are close to her heart. Starting with Shostakovich's Cello Sonata, a work blending classical form with simplicity and clarity, the program moves on to Debussy's evergreen Cello Sonata, which in contrast is elusive and whimsical, and Nina's inspired rendition of a rarity, Shostakovich's Adagio from The Limpid Stream. Martinu's Variations on a Slovakian Theme and Variations on a Theme of Rossini are both virtuosic and playful, showcasing his distinct rhythmic and lyrical style. The recital concludes with Chopin's Introduction and Polonaise Brillante in an arrangement that blends expressive cello lines with brilliant piano passages - played by Nina's partner on this album Fabio Bidini - creating an exuberant and captivating work.

Classical Music

Chinese pianist Nariga Nogi, in live recordings of piano works by Haydn, Liszt, Debussy, and Chopin.

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason's debut solo album is out now! 'Fantasie' takes you on a journey that explores connections across different composers' sound worlds. From Claude Debussy, Fr�d�ric Chopin and Alexander Scriabin to Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and William Grant Still, Jeneba presents a programme which is also very personal to her as an artist.

First disc by Alessandro Deljavan on Challenge Classics. Pupil of, among others, Nabore, Berman and Bashkirov, Deljavan chose some masterpieces of Chopin repertoire which have been recorded hundred of times. But, as usual with him, the listener has the impression to hear them anew, afresh: Deljavan has a thoroughly individual if not idiosyncratic approach to this music. Some may nor like it, but some will find and will hear surprising, revelatory things they never heard before. Pizzicato wrote:�Technically brilliant and with an exceptional imagination, Alessandro Deljavan brings finesse and spontaneity to Chopin's Etudes.

This disc received 1996 Grammy nominations for "Best Instrumental Soloist
Performance (Without Orchestra)" and "Classical Producer Of The Year."

When the first of the four Ballades was sketched, in the autumn of 1831 at Stuttgart, the twentyish and quite unknown Chopin was en route from Warsaw to Paris, where he was quickly to become the pale darling of the salons. When the last of the Ballades was published, in 1843, he had already forsaken the drawing room for the sickbed. Those dozen years thus virtually define his career as a composer, and it is defensible to say that the Ballades, which appeared at intervals over that period, succinctly define the length and breadth of his enduring artistic achievement – each in its way is a fair sample of a style so original, so unmistakable, that it must be accounted among the very few truly unique dialects in the universal language.

-- James Lyons, From the original liner notes for LSC-2304

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The quality of the piano playing is very substantial indeed. The dramatic turns in the Ballades are electrifying and the characteristic rhythms of the Polonaise are propelled irresistibly.

Whether the Chopin Ballades really illustrate the series of Lithuanian epics related on this record's sleeve-note is doubtful; it would be romantically agreeable if they did. More certainly they turn rapidly and romantically from one emotion, Lithuanian or no, to another. These turns of emotion are projected vividly by Graffman: piu mosso, says Chopin, and he is off like a whirlwind; presto con fuoco, and he is out of sight over the horizon. The effect is often electrifying, although the contrasting poetical moments—on the whole, in these pieces, the more numerous—are not quite so convincingly handled: repose seems less successfully conveyed than activity, poetry less successfully than drama. Yet of course the quality of the piano playing as such is very substantial indeed. It comes into its own in the Grande Polonaise.

Here the characteristic rhythms are propelled irresistibly, with a surge which must nearly convince the listener that the piece is not three times too long after all; the relatively peaceful Andante Spianato helps here, too.

-- Gramophone [6/1966, reviewing these performances on LP]

This is recording of Ballades and Scherzos by Fryderyk Chopin. Performed and recorded by outstanding Czech pianist Martin Kasik in Dvorak Hall, Rudolfinum Prague, Czech Republic.

Sonya Yoncheva has long been fascinated by George Sand. Writer, dramaturg, and literary critic, a journalist and an intellectual, the lover of Alfred de Musset and then of Frederic Chopin as well as being a friend of Franz Liszt, Pauline Viardot and Marie Dorval, and beyond her remarkable destiny as a woman blessed with the "glorious and complete independence" which in her age was reserved solely for men, Sand embodies the entire spirit, the essence even, of the 19th century. It is in the first place her boldness, approaching the intrepid, which appeals to the Bulgarian soprano. Sand showed daring for all of her life, and what a fount of inspiration her writings are, on all kinds of topics. Whether political, social, cultural, artistic, how pertinent they are, and how their vibrant, trenchant language dazzles! George Sand loved the arts unconditionally. And so this programme opens the doors to us, revealing her artistic universe and bringing her passions to life. Her house, her kitchen, her salon stir into action again, in this soiree in the company of her friends, these artists to whom she was so close and who, respectfully and with tender affection, listened to each other, conversed, laughed, and celebrated in music and poetry. Here, George Sand do not sing, nor do she play an instrument. So Sonya Yoncheva portrays her by reading some of her words. They bear witness to the sparkling, glittering nature of the "Lady of Nohant". What surprises there are throughout this recital! If the passionate urges of Alfred de Musset, fervent or, as so often, disappointed, nourish this journey equally, so the sumptuous Nuit de decembre by Ruggero Leoncavallo, the more hedonistic examples of Pauline Viardot, these two Mazurkas by Chopin transformed into melodies with Louis Pomey's slightly schoolboyish texts, or more obscurely the "medley" of Les Bohemiennes, marrying diverse motifs, of Brahms's Hungarian Dances, also delight heart and mind - a beautiful homage to the innate music that derives from folk and popular traditions, something that George Sands so frequently and tenderly extolled.

You have to sing with your fingers! - Frederic Chopin is said to have often demanded of his pupils during piano lessons. On which instruments could this demand be better realized than on the pianos of his time that he preferred? For this recording, the young Austrian pianist Martin Nobauer selected five historical instruments that were built between 1829 and 1853. Although there are only 24 years in between, the development in sound aesthetics from the rather thin and transparent sound of the earlier instruments to the fuller, rounder sound of the Pleyel grand piano from 1842 and especially the erard grand piano from 1853 is clearly perceptible. The works chosen for this album were composed in close temporal proximity to the creation of the instruments: the Piano Sonata in B minor op. 58, the Impromptu in G-flat major op. 51, the Mazurkas op. 50 as well as the Ballade op. 52 and the Fantaisie op. 49, both in F minor.

Franz Liszt etudes d'execution transcendante Nos. 1-12, S. 139 from: Grandes etudes de Paganini, S. 141 etude No. 3 in G-sharp minor - "La Campanella": Allegretto Frederic Chopin etude in G-flat major, op. 10 No. 5, "Black Keys" Yunjie Chen, piano Yunjie Chen's new album featuring Franz Liszt's Transcendental etudes is an exceptional addition to any classical music collection. Renowned for his interpretative depth and technical prowess, Chen brings a fresh perspective to these intricate works. From a young age, Chen has been immersed in Liszt's challenging pieces, having first encountered them at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. His deep connection with these works is evident in his performance, which balances technical precision with emotional depth. Chen sees Liszt's etudes not merely as technical exercises but as character pieces, each with it's own narrative and emotion. Yunjie Chen's approach to these pieces is both respectful of Liszt's intentions and uniquely his own. He avoids overromanticizing the music, instead aiming for a balance between rhythmic precision and expressive emotion. His nuanced interpretation brings out the vivid imagery and emotions in each etude, from the wit and sarcasm in "Feux Follets" to the heroic and tumultuous "Mazeppa." Through this recording, Chen invites listeners to experience the transcendental beauty of Liszt's music. He hopes that his performance will not only showcase the technical demands of these pieces but also their lyrical and evocative qualities, allowing listeners to appreciate the profound poetry embedded within each note.

There's a wealth of character in his playing, which is deeply poetic and dignified (BBC Music Magazine of MC3102 Chopin Ballades & Impromptus) "Kvapil is considered the finest exponent of Czech piano music... A performer with such a specialized repertoire can be unfairly 'tagged'... and Kvapil's release of three Beethoven piano sonatas will certainly correct that idea." (International Record Review of MC 147 Beethoven Sonatas 10, 17, 21)

Czech Grand Master Radoslav Kvapil who made his name bringing to the Western World the vast wealth of Czech piano works from Vorisek and Dussek through to Dvorak and Janacek, here presents recent studio recordings of this cornerstone of the piano repertoire. He brings a unique insight from a lifeti me of performing.

SCHUMANN: KINDERSZENEN BRAHM