Chopin: Études, Nocturnes & Piano Sonata No. 2

Where do piano music and the noblest of all diamonds meet? Nobility, technical finesse, and the beauty of reflection can only explain a part of our fascination for diamonds - there remains a mystery, an inexplicable depth. It's the same with the musical works that pianist Johannes Obermeier has brought together in his GENUIN album "Brilliants". Schumann's radiant "Carnaval", Ravel's sparkling "Valses nobles et sentimentales", Chopin's and Godowsky's dazzling etudes, and Obermeier's own variations on a Schumann motif are mirrors and reflections of each other. This CD production is part of the Carl Bechstein Special Prize of the ARD Music Competition 2022 - one of numerous awards the young exceptional musician has earned in the past two years. A promising debut album!

CHOPIN: Piano Music

PIANO CONCERTOS 1 & 2

This release presents works of Chopin written in his Vienna period, and here they are played on exactly such an instrument, as is still preserved in the Italian Palazzo Contucci in Montepulciano. The young Chopin, a child prodigy if ever there was one, soon found his surroundings in his native Warsaw too narrow, and visited the cultural capital Vienna during the years 1829-1831. Here he met the local piano manufacturer Conrad Graf and was seduced by his instruments, with their light action and delicate, pliant sound. His triumphal concerts in Vienna were played on Graf's pianos, and the young Fryderick was presented one as a gift by Graf himself.

A Chopin recital dated 1985 by the extraordinarily gifted young Nikolai Lugansky. To the exclusion of the Nocturne, Op. 27/2 (1835), the works on this CD were written in the years between 1841 and 1847, the ‘George Sand chapter’ in the Chopin biography. "There has not been a genius deeper and richer in feelings and emotions than Chopin", writes George Sand in her Histoire de ma vie.

The first and still best-loved tango star, Gardel brought the culture of Argentina and the music of Latin America to the rest of the world. Here are Volver; Ventarron; Silencio; Rie Payaso; Por Una Cabeza; Pato; La Cumparsita; La Cieguita; Caminito; Almagro; La Garconniere, and more-plus a DVD with 28 video performances!

Classical Music

With this release, distinguished Korean pianist Klara Min brings her special touch a seventeen-piece survey of her favorite Mazurkas - a unique “composer genre” from Frédéric Chopin. Widely regarded as the most intimate, heartfelt, emotional, and personal music that the “poet of the piano” composed, the mazurkas fairly shine under Min’s fingers. Her tone has been called “ravishing” and “out of this world” (American Record Guide), and her rare interpretive acumen, technical wizardry, and intuitive musicianship make Chopin’s music a perfect fit.

The long-lived Abbey Simon (1920-2019) was a pianist in the great Romantic tradition. His repertoire centered on Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel, and he had a virtuoso technique which he employed with effortless ease coupled with a smooth, clear sound.

His recording of Chopin’s complete works for piano and orchestra has been a classic since its first release in 1973. Newly remastered from the original tapes these performances now sound better than ever. Volume 1 of Chopin’s complete works for piano and orchestra with soloist Abbey Simon can be heard on VOX-NX-3032CD.

On 180gm vinyl, a new LP mastering for Zlata Chochieva’s definitive modern recording of a landmark in the Romantic virtuoso repertoire.

In March 2013, Bryce Morrison in Gramophone welcomed Zlata Chochieva’s debut on Brilliant Classics, playing Rachmaninoff (PCL0047) noting that she is ‘the possessor of a comprehensive technique who brings an inner glow to every bar. Her phrasing is indelibly Russian in its fullness and warmth, backed by a dauntless and easy command.’
Her recordings have continued to attract such praise, with this recording of the Chopin Etudes winning an Editor’s Choice award in 2015. It was claimed that one renowned pianist regarded Chochieva’s interpretation as ‘the greatest I’ve ever heard’ – backed up by Jeremy Nicholas writing in Gramophone that ‘in each of the 27 studies Chochieva comes as close to anyone to how I hear the ideal performance in my head, or as I would wish to play them had I the ability to do so… Taken as read are a superlative technique and an ideal recorded sound… One of the most consistently inspired, masterfully executed and beautiful sounding versions I can recall.’

On LP, Chochieva’s version deserves to take its place alongside classic traversals such as Pollini on DG. As with all Piano Classics LPs, the vinyl version has been mastered at the Optimal factory, renowned for its audiophile standards. The LP is packaged as a gatefold with an extensive essay on the Etudes and a full biography for Chochieva, which concludes with this endorsement from Stephen Kovacevich: ‘Zlata Chochieva is one of the most interesting and unusual pianists today. She has superb technical abilities, but it is her personal intuition in the music she play s that is special. I would be interested to hear anything she does and that is rare.’

The technical standard expected today of a young pianist has risen relentlessly, while at the same time much has happened in the musical sphere when it comes to Chopin interpretation. Today, all of the Polish genius’s works have increasingly come to the fore for their uniqueness and their unsurpassed quality, with the result that more and more pianists are daring to tackle the fearsome 24 Etudes – at least in the studio.

In preparation for the studio recording, Amir Katz sought audience approval by performing the works frequently and to acclaim in concert. As with previous projects, he wanted to take a holistic approach to the pieces, beginning with the famous “bracket effect” of the first and last pieces in C major and C minor, both of them closely related to the first two pieces of Bach’s “Well-tempered Clavier” and to the last etude that then modulates back to C major – which ultimately brings the work full circle in terms of tonality. What is more, in his assiduous study of the sources on early performance practice, Amir Katz has found divergence in the earlier (faster) original tempi, especially in the slower movements, and exact tempo correspondences between various pieces. Finally, the young virtuoso proves his credentials in these masterworks with a flawless clarity that is more than equal to its stylistically refined, artistically “simplified” neo-Baroque echoes.

Learn more about this recording on the Naxos Classical Spotlight podcast!

The great American pianist Abbey Simon was an eloquent exponent of Chopin’s works, and these classic Vox recording from 1972 are a fitting testament to his artistry. Produced by the legendary Elite Recordings team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz who made some of the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.

SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce the return of pianist Peter Donohoe to the label following his acclaimed complete survey of Mozart’s Piano Sonatas with a dazzling new recital coupling Rachmaninoff – on the 150th anniversary of his birth in 1873 – and Chopin.

What are the origins of the Mexican/Dutch/Russian violist Dana Zemtsov and Ukrainian/Dutch pianist Anna Fedorova? Throughout years of friendship, they discovered many similarities in their upbringing. Both Dana and Anna’s parents met in Moscow’s conservatory. Dana’s parents - Julia Dinerstein and Mikhail Zemtsov - are both renowned violists. Anna’s parents - Tatiana Abayeva and Borys Fedorov - are incredible pianists and famous piano professors. With the album Fathers & Daughters, they embark on a journey through generations of the two families! It features works performed by each daughter with her father, the fathers together, the daughters together, and the daughters with their fathers. With music by Evgeny Zemtsov, Frédéric Chopin, Nikolai Roslavets, Alexander Glazunov, Alexander Scriabin, Michael Kugel and Mikhail Zemtsov, plus a piece written by Borys Fedorov especially for this album, it is a perfect, nostalgic portrayal of the environment in which Dana & Anna’s ancestors grew up in.