Chopin - Complete Nocturnes - Michele Boegner

 

Release Date: 04/26/2000 Label: Calliope Number of discs: 2 Composer: Frédéric Chopin Performer: Michèle Boegner cd info/ buy

Review:

Calliope has done everyone who loves the beautiful Chopin Nocturnes a genuine favor in recording Ms.Boegner with the Pleyel piano! First, the performances are flawless, gracious,and thoughtfully played. Obviously this performer knows the heart of Chopin; to me she certainly wears her heart on her sleeve with the gorgeous nocturnes. I can think of no one that plays these better than Boegner. Second, the mechanism and soundboard of the Pleyel piano is far less resonant than the modern Steinway and Boesendorfer pianos. As a result, the line of the music can flow out more clearly and inner voices are heard far better. If you have never heard this music with this vintage piano, you certainly owe it to yourself to hear it!

 

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Raff - Piano Concerto, Fruhlingsode - Aronsky, Bamert, Meier

 

Release Date: 02/14/2006 Label: Tudor Records Number of discs: 1 Composer: Joseph Joachim Raff Performer: Peter Aronsky, Basel Radio Symphony Orchestra cd info/ buy

Review:

The one movement Ode is a compact affair written in 1857. It’s deliciously verdant, with finely and characteristically eventful scoring. The first violin figure with which it begins is captivating in its freshness. The piano slides in quietly, even speculatively, without fuss certainly. It is however full of lyrical sentiment, responding to the ensuing solo cello lied with dapple and filigree. Raff assuredly mines some Lisztian rhetoric from time to time but he is always affable, balancing the urge for virtuosity with Mendelssohnian warmth. His wind melodies are pleasing, and there’s a proud and strong conclusion. Michael Ponti recorded this with the Westphalian Symphony and Richard Kapp on Vox, a performance I’ve yet to hear, but this more up-to-date effort sees Peter Aronsky and Jost Meier collaborating with verve and sensitivity. It’s a touch surprising that Raff wrote only one full-scale concerto for the piano. Of the two works in this disc the Piano Concerto of 1873 should be the more imposing. For one thing it’s the product of his maturity, and for another it’s twice as long as the Ode. It was premiered by no less a figure than von Bülow with the composer himself conducting, and was apparently extremely popular. The piano pitches straight in, but soon embraces warm filigree and a Chopinesque ethos. The writing for the piano is fluent, a touch decorative. The orchestration however is, to my ears, bafflingly modest. The Lisztian charge in the opening movement, with its cascading piano, is certainly arresting, and the virtuosic flourishes to end the movement are undeniably effective. But the roulades of the second movement are dainty and pretty and there’s not overmuch textual interplay between piano and orchestra; the Field-Chopin influence is strong but without quite their purposeful quality. The skittish Mendelssohnisms of the finale bring the Concerto to an enjoyable conclusion.

 

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Beethoven - Diabelli Variations - Paul Lewis

 

Release Date: 06/14/2011 Label: Harmonia Mundi Number of discs: 1 Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven Performer: Paul Lewis cd info/ buy

Review:

Published in June 1823 and dedicated to Antonie Brentano, the 33 Variations op.120 were described by Diabelli himself as ‘a great and important masterpiece, worthy to be ranked with the imperishable creations of the old Classics [and to occupy] a place beside Sebastian Bach's famous masterpieces of the same type'. And indeed, like the Kantor de Leipzig, Beethoven revolutionized the  genre – but, paradoxically, by taking it into the unexpected regions of the bagatelle. On this eagerly anticipated release, Paul Lewis, protégé of Alfred Brendel, brings his sharp intellect and remarkable technique to bear on this towering masterwork of the period.

 

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