Chopin: The Complete Nocturnes And Impromptus | Frederic Chopin, Claudio Arrau

Chopin: The Complete Nocturnes And Impromptus | Frederic Chopin, Claudio Arrau | The More You Listen, The More You Agree With Arrau

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Chopin: The Comple...

	Chopin: The Complete Nocturnes And Impromptus Frederic Chopin, Claudio Arrau Philips, 1997 average customer review:based on 43 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The summit (forgive me, Rubinstein)

If anyone wanted an introduction to the late Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, and why I think he's one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, I'd point them to this set. This is some of the most distinctive Chopin playing I've ever heard, beautifully-recorded. I've been comparing this to Rubinstein's set all week and Arrau comes out on top almost every time.

Some people may find his push-pull rubato a little too much, but I like it here. Listen to how he never repeats a phrase exactly. Each time he plays it he caresses a different note, a different part of the phrase, accents a different beat ever so slightly. There's no such thing as "passage work" with Arrau. He has said that every note in a piece is equally important, and he plays these works that way, rather than as just light dreamy moonlight pieces, and thus brings out demons in them I've never heard before. For just one of many examples, listen to the pedal just before the coda in the Second Nocturne, Op. 9. No one does moments like that like Arrau--he makes a very special statement effortlessly, without flash or drama. His recordings reward careful, repeated listening, and bore those searching for surface flair.

It's interesting to note that he considered the Nocturnes to be the peak of Chopin's output, an extraordinary view. Most other pianists--Rubinstein is a fine example--handle the Nocturnes as small parlor pieces, but Arrau gives them a big-scale treatment. You could argue they lose some of their intimate charm, their old fashioned quality, this way, like listening to Mozart chamber music through a bullhorn, but I think Arrau's view has a lot going for it. He brings out a certain agitation in No. 2 in Op. 37 in G-major, that other pianists miss. He finds moonlight and mystery in the constantly changing figurations of No. 1 in B-flat minor--again, no such thing as passagework. And just wait till you hear the volcanic fury pent up in the C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1. I find these larger-than-life readings to be very satisfying, and despite Arrau's approach he manages to find plenty of small-scale charm in, say, Op. 15, No. 2. But what makes this set special to me is the extra material he mines from works like Op. 15, No. 1, here played more disturbingly than ones normally hears it. And, if you're in the mood for the drawing room approach, you should also have your Rubinstein set handy. (While I am a great admirier of Pires, I find her set, beautifully-played, to be a little intellectually lightweight compared to these.)

Don't listen to those who say either 1) Chopin played his works without a lot of rubato, or 2) there is heavy breathing here that makes these unlistenable. No one knows what Chopin played these works like--there was no recording then, obviously, and a verbal description is not reliable since everything is relative--what was considered "not a lot of rubato" in 1840 could be a lot today, just as meat that was "not very salty" in 1840 would probably assault our tastebuds today. Chopin's direct descendants were recorded, however, or many of them were, and they played his works with great freedom, rhythmic and otherwise. This fact, coupled with the knowledge that slavish workship of the printed note did not take effect until the second half of the 20th century, makes me suspect anyone who says Chopin did not want his works played this way or that way. As for Arrau's "breathing," I don't find it particularly bothersome. Anyone saying this makes the discs "unlistenable" must be a child of the electronic music age, and probably could not keep his concentration in a concert hall surrounded by people who are all, we hope, breathing.

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The More You Listen, The More You Agree With Arrau

I often come back to him for his Chopin. For an alternative of the Nocturnes, Samson Francois's (a French pianist with a strong personality) is a good choice. Moravec's are very impressing too. For a more recent version, viewers might perhaps check out Dang Thai Son (first Asian Chopin International Competition gold medalist), Ashkenazy's regular partner.

I also like Cortot, but you have to withstand the archive sound and some wrong notes. Rachmaninov's Chopin is great too. But the recordings are even more primitive and it is incomplete, so is the case of Sauer. Furthermore, like Friedman, Rachmaninov would alter the score a bit here and there...

So the Chopin that I refer to most are Arrau's other than Cortot. You can go over to him again and again without getting tired: beautiful tone, perfect phrasings beautifully recorded that goes right into the heart of music, and some say he is "deep and searching"...

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amazing performance

For me, this is perhaps the best recording of the Chopin Nocturnes. Both very profound and sensitive.

Chopin the complete nocturnes

i am so happy with this disc at such a reasonable price these nocturnes are wonderful haunting just exactly what i have been looking for a great buy

oh just lovely

i'd been searching for the complete set of nocturnes on disc for a while now so I was going to buy this regardless of other reviews. It is very nice, however it's always infuriating when you've heard better versions and expect to hear a certain song a certain way. The pianist tends personalise the tracks with quite a lot of rubato, which is ok i suppose but it makes it feel a little jerky at times. And yes you do become aware of the breathing. Overall though it's lovely stuff. x x x

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