Chopin on an 1851 Erard
LaVirtuosa
The liner notes are in English, German and French.
It is not my intention here to open a discussion about Emanuel's
interpretations of the music, but I think he is straightforward enough. So
far, he has done both concertos, the Grand Fantasia on Polish Airs, the Grande
Polonaise Brilliante, the "Cat Waltz"(Chopin's own personal favorite), and Ci
Darem Variations. Charles Mackerras very carefully conducts the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightment.
Chopin himself was very fussy about his choice of pianos, and preferred Pleyal
or Graf pianos to the Erard. If he could hear this recording now, he would be
very critical of it because a good deal of the sensitivity of his music is lost
on this instrument. But it is important to listen to the Erard because it
nevertheless clearly demonstrates the challenge to be overcome in balancing the
upper and lower registers of the instrument and bringing clarity to Chopin's
arpeggiated passages on the modern piano. In addition, it's an emotional,
haunting experience to listen to this.
Any comments or opinions are most welcome.
Valerie Kraemer
USA
I hope that Emanuel will be able to with this series and bring us more.
Simon Roberts
: Any comments or opinions are most welcome.
I rather like the two discs. But have you heard other recordings of
Chopin using fortepianos? There are at least two sets of the nocturnes,
one on Ricercar, another on Caliope, a set of Mazurkas, a recital by John
Khouri, a disc of the ballades and scherzi on EMI, and a few others. I
forget off-hand what the pianos involved are, but can remedy that (if
no-one else does so first) when I get home....
Simon
mt
pianos, I wonder why they aren't used more often. The legato notes sound
a bit different; at first I found it disorienting but I soon got used to
it.
Regards,
mrt
LaVirtuosa
>Chopin using fortepianos
Simon,
Those are some interesting examples to investigate.
There actually does seem to be a slight resemblance between this Erard and a
fortepiano. The fortepianos that I have personally met at harpsichord
festivals are spooky things to listen to when one is right there with them in a
real-life medium-sized room; they might need some careful "miking" to produce a
faithful recording- the tone dissipates so rapidly. Robert Levin has been
showing a lot of enthusiasm for fortepianos.
Valerie
Dr What
Simon Roberts wrote:
-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----
LaVirtuosa
>a bit different;
It's really difficult to hear the legato at all here-that must be why Emanuel
said in his liner notes that he increased the tempo in order to compensate for
the differences in this instrument, which does, nevertheless, have a beautiful
voice.
Valerie
Simon Roberts
: Simon,
: Those are some interesting examples to investigate.
:
Here are a few more, plus the details re all the pianos involved (except
the Ax discs, which you know):
Ballades and scherzi: Cyril Huve Pleyel 1828/9 and Pleyel 1838. EMI 54480
Ballades/barcarolle/fantasy/berceuse: Alexei Lubimov Erard 1837. Erato
45990
Mazurkas opp. 6-41: Patrick Cohen Erard c. 1855. Glossa 920506
Mazurkas (most): Cor de Groot Pleyel 1847. Haags Gemeentemuseum 04/05.
Also in the Brilliant Classics Chopin box
Nocturnes (half): Bart van Oort, Pleyel 1842 in the Brilliant Classics
Chopin box
Nocturnes (all): Michele Boegner Pleyel 1836. Calliope 9281.2
Nocturnes (all): Luc Devos Broadwood c. 1845. Ricercar 132116, 145143
Misc Nocturnes and Mazurkas: Zvi Meniker Troendlin 1828/29. Raumklang 9708
Mixed recital: Olejniczac Pleyel 1831 Opus. 111 43-9107 (reissued,
probably with a different number)
Piano cto 2/Fantasy on Polish Airs: Olejniczak, Das Neuer Orchester,
Christoph Spering cond. Erard (I can't find the year). Opus 111 2008
Mixed recital (not all Chopin): Oleczniczak Erard 1848. Opus 111 30-292
Misc recital (including a hair-raising scherzo 1): John Khouri Broadwood
1833. Entr'acte 6506
Four tracks on Thibaudet's Chopin recital: Broadwood 1848 (played by
Chopin in England). Decca 466 357. In interviews Thibaudet states that he
didn't enjoy playing this piano - which is ironic, considering these are
the only four tracks on the disc where he comes to life.... Perhaps he
should play more pianos he doesn't like.
Some of these seem well worth seeking out. Huve's can be skipped - he's
rather a bore and I'm not sure why I've kept the disc. Cohen's Mazurkas
are weird, unbelievably slow, though they may have a certain interest if
you can forget they're mazurkas.... Lubimov is certainly a superb player,
but as so often I find him rather too restrained/gentle/lyrical. Miniker
disappointed me somewhat, but I can't remember why and who knows, I may
change my mind - have only played it once. I have no reservations about
the rest; on the contrary. Oleczniczak's cto 2 strikes me as more
imaginative than Ax's (I prefer the sound of the orchestra too); his solo
recitals are excellent.
There are probably others (I may even have some more somewhere...) but
that's it from me, for now....
Simon
Stephen McElroy
(Simon Roberts) wrote:
> There are probably others (I may even have some more somewhere...) but
> that's it from me, for now....
Edmund Battersby, for one. Mixed recital with Schumann.
Stephen
minklerstraat
--
Simon Roberts <si...@dept.english.upenn.edu> schreef in berichtnieuws
: Mazurkas (most): Cor de Groot Pleyel 1847. Haags Gemeentemuseum 04/05.
: Also in the Brilliant Classics Chopin box
:
: Nocturnes (half): Bart van Oort, Pleyel 1842 in the Brilliant Classics
: Chopin box
:
Simon (and others),
Is this Brilliant Box recommendable for someone who doesn't collect Chopin,
but has almost all of Chopin already anyway? I.e., will I listen to more of
it than these two recordings?
-James
_________________________
Support more broadcast strength for the Belgain classical Radio Klara--
sign the petition at www.petitiononline.com/klara/petition.html
Last day to sign: this Saturday
Simon Roberts
: Simon (and others),
: Is this Brilliant Box recommendable for someone who doesn't collect Chopin,
: but has almost all of Chopin already anyway? I.e., will I listen to more of
: it than these two recordings?
These are probably the best things in the box. A few other discs are
quite good, a few are pretty bad (see, e.g., Robert's description of the
first Scherzo). Depends, I suppose, on how cheap the set is in your part
of the world and how interested you are in fortepiano recordings of
Chopin.
Simon
snowy
>
> --
>
> Simon Roberts <si...@dept.english.upenn.edu> schreef in berichtnieuws
>
> : Mazurkas (most): Cor de Groot Pleyel 1847. Haags Gemeentemuseum 04/05.
> : Also in the Brilliant Classics Chopin box
> :
> : Nocturnes (half): Bart van Oort, Pleyel 1842 in the Brilliant Classics
> : Chopin box
> :
> Simon (and others),
> Is this Brilliant Box recommendable for someone who doesn't collect Chopin,
> but has almost all of Chopin already anyway? I.e., will I listen to more of
> it than these two recordings?
The Brilliant box has some outrightly bad items (the Etudes, for
instance, which I really couldn't stand listening to more than once !),
but I believe it contains other good things besides what's
mentioned above: the Preludes, for instance, or the 3 Sonatas by
Fred Oldenburg.
Robert.