CHOPIN Piano Concertos (Richard-Hamelin)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Fryderyk Chopin
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Analekta
Magazine Review Date: 07/2019
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 76
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: AN29146
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Charles Richard-Hamelin, Piano Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Kent Nagano, Conductor Montreal Symphony Orchestra |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Charles Richard-Hamelin, Piano Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Kent Nagano, Conductor Montreal Symphony Orchestra |
Author: Patrick Rucker
Richard-Hamelin’s overriding concern is the life of the phrase, achieved by replicating Chopin’s expressive gestures through precise observance of every detail in the score. His playing never sounds routine or exhibitionistic. In his hands, Chopin’s bravura passagework is imbued with meaning, its purpose the preparation or embellishment of a lyrical moment. High-flown fioritura seems informed by what a great singer could accomplish with the utmost taste and refinement. Unusually for a musician with Richard-Hamelin’s focus on detail, his imaginative grasp of the larger musical architecture remains secure. Supported at every juncture by Nagano and the Montreal musicians, and beautifully captured by the Analekta engineers, these are Chopin concertos of extraordinary originality and distinction.
Both rondos suggest a festive celebration of the dance. Neither is especially fast, yet both describe movement with the grace and precision of an expert corps de ballet. The Romanze of the E minor Concerto speaks with delectable sweetness, poised and restrained, creating a genuine dialogue between soloist and orchestra. Liszt described the incomparable Larghetto of the F minor Concerto as ‘of an ideal perfection, its feeling radiant and passionate by turn’, in which ‘joy is tempered and sorrow is sweetened’. Here it evokes an eloquence of the sort with which one imagines Talma and Bocage held Parisian audiences in thrall nearly 200 years ago.
I would suggest that, even if you have a dozen recordings of the Chopin concertos on your shelf, you won’t regret adding this one.
Explore the world’s largest classical music catalogue on Apple Music Classical.
Included with an Apple Music subscription. Download now.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £9.20 / month
SubscribeGramophone Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £11.45 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.