Chopin - Valses / Alex Szilasi on Authentic Pleyel Piano / Chopin 1810 - 2010 / Hungaroton Classic Audio CD 2007 /

HCD 32468

UPC 5991813246382 / 5991813246387

MADE IN HUNGARY

TOTAL TIME: 64:36

English Summary:

The Hungaroton label has launched an ambitious attempt to record all of Chopin's music in time for the bicentennial of his birth in 1810, with this disc devoted to the composer's 19 waltzes and a trio of écossaises (or Scottish dances, with the little hop at the end of its characteristic rhythmic figure familiar to anyone who has ever danced a schottisch in a country-and-western bar). What distinctiveness there is in Italian-born Hungarian pianist Alex Szilasi's interpretations resides in a pair of factors. One is the use of what is variously described as an "authentic Pleyel piano," "a 2.8-metre-long original Pleyel concert grand," and a "wonderful Pleyel 280 piano," a model that still exists today. The booklet (in English, French, and Hungarian) might profitably have devoted less space to easily available facts about Chopin's waltzes and more to the history and age of the instrument used; the reader does not learn whether it comes from Chopin's time or later. It is an exceptionally attractive instrument whatever its age, with exceptional clarity both in the articulation of individual notes and in revealing the resonances and sustained tones that are so important to Chopin's music. Of course part of the credit for this clarity goes to the pianist, whose talents are well matched to the instrument he plays. The second distinctive quality of these performances is Szilasi's rather cool, modern approach -- not exactly the going thing with Chopin, but consistently thought out in terms of a repertoire of expressive devices. One of these is an attempt to create some distance between Chopin's music and the waltz's origins on the dance floor. If you like to hear a big rhythmic swing in a piece like the Grande Valse Brillante in A flat major, Op. 34/1, Szilasi's interpretation is probably not for you -- he is not exactly cerebral, but he is on the quiet side, and a bit jumpy at times in the Grand Valse Brillante in E flat major, Op. 18. He is at his best in wandering, rather forlorn music like the Waltz for piano in E flat major, KK IVb/10, CT. 223 (track 6). Szilasi's Chopin may be a matter of taste, but pianophiles of any taste are likely to find the music of interest here.

Tracklist:

    
1     
Waltz for piano in A minor, KK IVb/11, CT. 224 (B. 150)  01:57     
    
2     
Waltz for piano in A flat major, KK IVa/13, CT. 221 (B. 21)  01:29     
    
3     
Waltz for piano in E major, KK IVa/12, CT. 220 (B. 44)  02:25     
    
4     
Waltz for piano in E flat major (spurious), KK IVa/14 (B. 46)  02:24     
    
5     
Waltz for piano in E minor, KK IVa/15, CT. 222 (B. 56)  03:02     
    
6     
Waltz for piano in E flat major, KK IVb/10, CT. 223   01:59     
    
7     
Waltz for piano No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 18, CT. 207  06:06   

 
Waltzes (3) for piano, Op. 34, CT. 208-210     
    
8     
No. 1. Grande Valse Brillante in A flat major   06:01     
    
9     
No. 2. Grande Valse Brillante in A minor   06:28     
    
10     
No. 3. Grande Valse Brillante in F major  02:37     

Waltzes (2) for piano, Op. 69, CT. 215-216     
    
11     
No. 2 in B minor  03:38   

 
Waltzes (3) for piano, Op. 70, CT. 217-219     
    
12     
No. 1 in G flat major   02:20     
    
13     
No. 2 in F minor  01:43     
    
14     
No. 3 in D flat major   02:34     

Waltzes (3) for piano, Op. 64, CT. 212-214     
    
15     
No. 3 in A flat major  03:26     
    
16     
Waltz for piano No. 9 in A flat major ("L'adieu") Op. 69/1, CT. 215  03:50     
    
17     
Waltz for piano No. 6 in D flat major ("Minute"), Op. 64/1, CT. 212  02:00     
    
18     
Waltz for piano No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64/2, CT. 213  03:58     
    
19     
Waltz for piano No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 42, CT. 211  04:05     

Ecossaises (3) for piano, Op. 72/3, CT. 11-13     
    
20     
No. 3 in D major  01:06     
    
21     
No. 4 in G major  00:38     
    
22     
No. 5 in D flat major    00:37