2015 marked a half century since the late Ivan Moravec recorded Chopin’s Nocturnes for Connoisseur Society to great acclaim. Nonesuch reissued the cycle in 1991, as did Supraphon in 2012. Supraphon’s remastering reveals ever-so-slightly less tape hiss than the Nonesuch version, and is a bit brighter in the piano’s upper register, yet the differences are so marginal that, frankly, it doesn’t matter. What matters is Moravec’s spellbinding artistry.

His inflections of phrase and tempo modifications always are proportioned and purposeful. Listen, for example, to the dramatic, almost heart-stopping strettos leading up to the pauses in Op. 32 No. 1’s melodic line (here Moravec, like Rubinstein, somewhat perversely opts for the final chord resolving to B major, rather than the Urtext’s B minor). In the popular F-sharp Nocturne Op. 15 No. 2, Moravec balances the elaborate fioritura passages against more-prominent-than-usual bass lines, and finds uncommon urgency in the often sentimentalized E-flat Op. 9 No. 2.

Op. 27 No. 1 is often interpreted like vague impressionism. Moravec, however, takes the trouble to clarify the murky left-hand accompanying triplet figurations, and propels the central section forward by emphasizing the bass. The B major Op. 9 No. 3’s chromatic melodic dips float over the accompaniment as if two separate pianists on separate instruments were in cahoots. Then there is the stormy intensity of Op. 55 No. 1’s central episode, Op. 55 No. 2’s thoughtfully chiseled polyphony, and Op. 62 No. 1’s long, rapturously murmuring trills. The sonics are a wee bit boxy, and you can hear Moravec’s feet prominently operating the pedals, yet the pianist’s cultivated sonority comes through with no qualification.

REVIEW:

2015 marks a half century since the late Ivan Moravec recorded Chopin’s Nocturnes for Connoisseur Society to great acclaim. Nonesuch reissued the cycle in 1991, as did Supraphon in 2012. Supraphon’s remastering reveals ever-so-slightly less tape hiss than the Nonesuch version, and is a bit brighter in the piano’s upper register, yet the differences are so marginal that, frankly, it doesn’t matter. What matters is Moravec’s spellbinding artistry.

His inflections of phrase and tempo modifications always are proportioned and purposeful. Listen, for example, to the dramatic, almost heart-stopping strettos leading up to the pauses in Op. 32 No. 1’s melodic line (here Moravec, like Rubinstein, somewhat perversely opts for the final chord resolving to B major, rather than the Urtext’s B minor). In the popular F-sharp Nocturne Op. 15 No. 2, Moravec balances the elaborate fioritura passages against more-prominent-than-usual bass lines, and finds uncommon urgency in the often sentimentalized E-flat Op. 9 No. 2.

Op. 27 No. 1 is often interpreted like vague impressionism. Moravec, however, takes the trouble to clarify the murky left-hand accompanying triplet figurations, and propels the central section forward by emphasizing the bass (sound clip). The B major Op. 9 No. 3’s chromatic melodic dips float over the accompaniment as if two separate pianists on separate instruments were in cahoots. Then there is the stormy intensity of Op. 55 No. 1’s central episode, Op. 55 No. 2’s thoughtfully chiseled polyphony, and Op. 62 No. 1’s long, rapturously murmuring trills. The sonics are a wee bit boxy, and you can hear Moravec’s feet prominently operating the pedals, yet the pianist’s cultivated sonority comes through with no qualification.

Supraphon’s annotations include a wonderful interview where the pianist offers vivid recollections about the recording sessions. As with Rubinstein, Moravec gives us the Nocturnes with opus numbers, leaving out two posthumously-published pieces: the C-sharp minor Nocturne that remains inexplicably popular as an encore, and a lesser known C minor Nocturne. If you don’t own Moravec’s peerless Nocturne cycle, your Chopin collection is incomplete.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

Delving into the world of Chopin during his later years, "Chopin – Late Masterpieces" features some of his undisputed treasures from that period. While sorrowful to think in terms of “late style” in the case of a composer who left us when only in his 30s, Chopin’s final years were quite productive despite his worsening health. His late works indeed represented groundbreaking, innovative piano compositions and proved to be beacons onto future generations of composers, including Debussy, Ravel, and Scriabin, among others. Sandro Russo’s playing has often been referred to as a throwback to the grand tradition of elegant pianism and beautiful sound. Born in San Giovanni Gemini, Italy, Russo displayed exceptional musical talent from an early age and studied at the V. Bellini Conservatory as well as the Royal College of Music in London.

Although this phenomenally popular body of music has attracted almost every important pianist of the last 150 years, its unlikely that Frédéric Chopin ever found, or will ever find, a more ideal interpreter than Artur Rubinstein... The key to Rubinstein's greatness as a Chopin interpreter was the combination of utter naturalness as a performer and his enormously sophisticated musical mind. Nothing ever seems forced or premeditated: there are no sharp edges or sudden flashes of insight. In fact,the illusion the performances create is one of the music flowing, without benefit of a human intermediary, directly from Chopin's heart to the listener's... At almost every moment in these classic recordings, Rubinstein discovers some wonder of color or phrasing, brings out a beautiful inner voice it seems we've never heard before, and in general creates the impression of a man for whom playing this often fiendishly difficult music is no more difficult than breathing or making love. -- Jim Sveda, from The Record Shelf Guide to the Classical Repertoire [reviewing the 11-CD box set of Chopin recordings by Artur Rubinstein, RCA 260822]

[A] reminder of the awe-inspiring calibre of Emanuel Ax's Chopin... His technique in the daunting demands of the Ballades...is so masterly that you almost forget its comprehensive range or the way even the highest hurdle is taken with yards to spare. Again, when you hear him at 8'20" as he starts the long and intricate climb towards the Fourth Ballade's heavenstorming climax you may well wonder when you have heard this passage more subtly or grandly inflected...

Time and again you are made aware of how Ax, with his sumptuous tone and rhetorical grandeur, can contain even Chopin's most audacious gestures within an overall sweep and impetus as inevitable as a force of nature. Generous and big-handed, Ax's Chopin is noble, grandly aristocratic and, above all, heartfelt.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone [4/2006, reviewing RCA 72554]

For the first time, pieces with orchestra from Fryderyk Chopin’s op. 2, 13, 14 and 22 in a solo version for historical piano will be available in a superb recording by Dina Yoffe as part of a series entitled The Real Chopin. The winner of top prizes at the Robert Schumann Piano Competition in Germany and the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Dina Yoffe took as her foundation the National Edition Urtext. Her performance is characterized by far-reaching faithfulness to the original text and to the original form of the pieces’ solo public presentation, as it took place in Chopin’s lifetime. The recording was realized at the Witold Lutosawski Concert Studio of Polish Radio in Warsaw.

Chopin, F.: 24 Preludes, Op. 28 / Polonaise No. 6, "Heroic"

Artur Rubinstein. RCA RCD1-7156 [Ballades, with Scherzos]; 5613-2-RC [19 Nocturnes; 2 CDs]; 5614-2-RC [51 Mazurkas; 2CDs]; 5615-2 [7 Polonaises]; RCD1-5492 [14 Waltzes]

If there is one sure bet in the music of Chopin, it is Artur Rubinstein. His recordings of the composer’s music can be recommended without hesitation for their warmth, lyricism, and expressive point. Never over-interpreted, the music emerges with spontaneity and freshness in his accounts, always alive, always delightful and surprising. His fiery renditions of the Ballades and Polonaises combine drama and poetry in brilliant fashion, while his readings of the Nocturnes, Mazurkas, and Waltzes are notable for their Mediterranean color and unerring sense of mood. The sound of the 1960s stereo recordings for RCA may occasionally lack depth and seem slightly veiled, but it holds up well enough to convey unmistakably the tone and the touch that made Rubinstein one of the greatest pianists of all time. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection.

Chopin himself treated most of his vocal miniatures as pieces intended to bring joy, lighten faces or squeeze a tear from the eye. He belonged to people of a cheerful nature – merry; and in the exile, he would still joke and make “various facetiae.” This is the interpretation of these gems, presented in this album by Henryka Januszewska. It is witty, full of details and showcases an extraordinary culture. This recording of Chopin’s songs from 1988 belongs to the absolutely best and most interesting in the history of phonography. Henryka Januszewska is one of the outstanding Polish singers of the New Generation. She is a graduate of the State Music Academy in Katowice, in the class of professor Helena Lazarska. In 1975 she became a laureate of the 13th International Competition of Contemporary Music Performers in Rotterdam. Marek Drewnowski is an excellent soloist who also performs chamber music with great taste and understanding. He studied at the Warsaw Academy of Music. His repertoire includes baroque, classical, and romantic literature.

...the pianist does emerge as a compelling artist in some of the most subtle ones. The visionary aspect of the C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1 is compellingly portrayed and the complicated polyphonic shifts of the E flat, Op. 55 No. 2 come off with splendid refinement and suave pianism.
-- James Methuen-Campbell, Gramophone [11/1993]

This new album by Charles Richard-Hamelin presents two important sides of Frederic Chopin’s work as a composer and confirms the place of this young musician in the high spheres of the piano universe. About Richard-Hamelin, the reputed BBC Music Magazine has written that he is “fluent, multifaceted and tonally seductive… a technician of exceptional elegance and sophistication” Very free in form, the four Chopin ballads present a similar journey, in which tension will increase to a fiery coda. The four impromptus show Chopin’s affection for miniatures and salon pieces and reveal another facet of his work, putting us in touch with his talent as an improviser. An essential album!

Having won a special prize for the best Mazurka interpretations during the 1955 International Warsaw Chopin Competition, it's no surprise that pianist Fou Ts'ong has a long-standing reputation for playing--guess what?--Chopin Mazurkas! I've never heard Fou's all-Mazurka Westminster LP, but his complete Mazurka cycle issued in 1993 by Sony Essential Classics now gains reissue thanks to Arkivmusic.com's on-demand reprint program.

Fou's forceful, creative Mazurka style commands attention. He dishes out lots of rubato and elongated beats, together with wide dynamic extremes and outsized accents. Yet somehow the interpretations rarely sound fragmented, and no matter how far out things get, you almost always can discern the Mazurka rhythm. What is more, Fou is not afraid to blur the pedal for coloristic and expressive purposes.

He's also fond of subjecting repeated phrases to subtle variations in nuance and touch (Op. 6 No. 1's main theme; Op. 7 No. 1's trills; Op. 63 No. 3's intense canonic dialogue; Op. 30 No. 4's dramatically contoured inner voices). Only occasionally does Fou's approach produce cloying results (Op. 17 No. 4 and Op. 68 No. 4).

The pianist also makes the most of transitional passages, be it a single, solitary upbeat or a quick succession of chords; Op. 24 No. 4, Op. 56 No. 3, and Op. 41 No. 2 are particularly striking in this regard. You easily can listen past the strident, harsh engineering, albeit not for long periods of time. That's just as well, since it's wisest to absorb Fou's multi-layered, hyper-detailed Mazurking in small doses.

Incidentally, Fou presents the Mazurkas in near-chronological order rather than according to opus, as is so often done. While Rubinstein's stereo and Ohlsson's digital Mazurka cycles remain safer, sonically superior versions of reference, Fou Ts'ong certainly casts individual and thought-provoking light on this repertoire.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

The pianist Anna Vinnitskaya has built up an impressive discography since her victory at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2007: Bach, Brahms, Ravel, and of course the Russian composers with whom she has been familiar since her childhood in Novorossiysk, then her studies with Evgeni Koroliov. She has now made her first Chopin recording, coupling the four Ballades, a cross between the miniature and the sonata, with the four Impromptus he composed at different periods of his life, between 1835 and 1842. Anna Vinnitskaya was born in the Russian city of Novorossijsk. She was a student of Sergei Ossipienko in Rostov and Evgenyi Koroliov at the Hamburg conservatoire. Since 2009 she has been a professor there herself - that is, when she is not touring the stages of the wide musical world.

This new album by Charles Richard-Hamelin presents two important works from Frederic Chopin’s repertoire, 24 Preludes, Op. 28 and Andante spianato & Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22, and confirms that he is one of the world's elite pianists. Writing about Richard-Hamelin, BBC Music Magazine characterized his playing as “fluent, multifaceted and tonally seductive… a technician of exceptional elegance and sophistication.” Qualities that are made evident on this brilliant new album. Charles Richard-Hamelin is well known on the international music scene as a “highly sensitive” pianist (Gramophone), driven by “a great depth of feeling without the slightest pretense” (Le Devoir). He is recognized as “fluent, multifaceted and tonally seductive… a technician of exceptional elegance and sophistication” (BBC Music Magazine).

Sophia Agranovich adores the piano works of Chopin, and it shows in these deeply-felt performances. Internationally acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator, Sophia Agranovich is “a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics…A tigress of the keyboard” – Fanfare. Her performances are captivating audiences by the “orison of uncommon beauty” – Audiophile, “the extraordinary dramatic urgency”, “the ideal balance she achieves between the intellectual and the emotional” – Fanfare, “interpretation that dares to be different”, “magnificent shading and superior musicianship” – American Record Guide. Sophia Agranovich is an esteemed pedagogue, lecturer, master class clinician, adjudicator, and is a recipient of numerous teaching awards. Her students are consistently winning top prizes in regional, national and international competitions and are performing at prestigious venues. Ms. Agranovich is active member of various professional music organizations, listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World, a voting member of NARAS, Artistic Director of ‘Classicals at the Circle’ music series at the Watchung Arts Center, Program Chair and Board member of Music Educators Association of New Jersey.

The repertoire of Marek Mizera’s Chopin album can be considered both comprehensive and cross-sectional. Each of the works recorded on the album requires from the pianist a completely autonomous approach to such issues as formal structure, building drama, melody, or the use of tempo rubato. Marek MIZERA was born in Bielsko-Biała where he finished a music school in the piano class of Maria Kubica-Skarbowska. He went on to graduate from the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, where he studied with Professor Kazimierz Gierżod. He has worked closely with renowned teachers at home and abroad, including Józef Stompel, Jerzy Godziszewski, Lazar Berman, and Peter Feuchtwanger. Upon graduation, he has developed a concert career, appearing in his own country as well as abroad. Foreign tours have taken him to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, Canada, Angola, and Cuba. He has released a number of recordings for the DUX recording label. He has also pursued a teaching career for many years, currently as a Professor at the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce