Chopin

[Florestan]

Chopin wrote some piano concerti as well, the first only two are nice pieces with no cadenzas.

Fixed. 

[Florestan]

Oh, thank you. I heard extracts from them on the documentary I saw. One of them especially impressed me.

I bet it was the e minor op. 11. 

[vers la flamme]

Hmm, I have noticed that I still find the E minor PC kind of challenging. Possibly due to its expansiveness, and (don't kill me for this) somewhat colorless orchestration, to my ears. I do enjoy the F minor 2nd PC, though, which was actually written somewhat earlier. But I shall keep trying with both of them. I have two recordings: Claudio Arrau, Eliahu Inbal, London Philharmonic; and the wunderkind Evgeny Kissin live in Moscow in 1984 (don't remember orchestra or conductor).

[staxomega]

Fixed. 

Op. 46 is for piano and orchestra.

[vers la flamme]

Op. 46 is for piano and orchestra.

Hmm, the recording I have, Vladimir Ashkenazy, is solo piano only, but I have read that Chopin had written it originally as a first movement for a prospective third concerto.

[staxomega]

Hmm, the recording I have, Vladimir Ashkenazy, is solo piano only, but I have read that Chopin had written it originally as a first movement for a prospective third concerto.

Huh, interesting just looked it up on Wikipedia and it wasn't originally scored for orchestra. I don't have the Ashkenazy box and doubt it's on any individual CD of his I have.

So just the first two piano concerti are nice pieces 

[vers la flamme]

Huh, interesting just looked it up on Wikipedia and it wasn't originally scored for orchestra. I don't have the Ashkenazy box and doubt it's on any individual CD of his I have.

So just the first two piano concerti are nice pieces 

It's on the Polonaises 2CD. I don't have the box either, but I want it... 

[Florestan]

Op. 46 is for piano and orchestra.

But it's not a piano concerto.

[vandermolen]

I bet it was the e minor op. 11. 

Well, it was certainly in a minor key Andrei but that applies to both of them I think! You are probably right.

[Florestan]

Well, it was certainly in a minor key Andrei but that applies to both of them I think! You are probably right.

Well, the op. 11 is my favorite of them two, but this means nothing, you might prefer the op. 21. I'm very curious which is which.

[Madiel]

Op.46 is definitely not for piano orchestra. But opuses 2, 13, 14 and 22 are.

I like some of them better than the concerti. Orchestral Chopin in smaller doses.

[vers la flamme]

Op.46 is definitely not for piano orchestra. But opuses 2, 13, 14 and 22 are.

I like some of them better than the concerti. Orchestral Chopin in smaller doses.

I thought the same. Op.2 especially is really nice. This is the work that prompted the young Schumann to proclaim "hats off, gentlemen, a genius".

[staxomega]

That was a major brain freeze moment on my part, I even have an Arrau EMI era CD of him playing Op. 46. Not sure when I heard this last, nice piece and performance.

[Herman]

I had not listened to Chopin (or piano music) in a long time.

I mean years.

However, suddenly I felt like hearing Chopin Impromptus, one of the not so familiar provinces of his work.

I guess I only have two different Rubinstein recordings to choose from (and of course a ton of Fantaisie-Impromptus as CD-fillers).

Is there anyone in particular who is particularly good in these works?

[amw]

Murray Perahia or Pavel Kolesnikov, depending on interpretive preferences. Sampling of any 20-30 seconds from their recordings should be sufficient to determine which approach you prefer.

The Rubinsteins are honestly not bad either though.

[vers la flamme]

Claudio Arrau is my favorite for the impromptus.

[Mandryka]

I had not listened to Chopin (or piano music) in a long time.

I mean years.

However, suddenly I felt like hearing Chopin Impromptus, one of the not so familiar provinces of his work.

I guess I only have two different Rubinstein recordings to choose from (and of course a ton of Fantaisie-Impromptus as CD-fillers).

Is there anyone in particular who is particularly good in these works?

See if you enjoy Momo Kodama.

[George]

I hadn't listened to Samson Francois's Chopin in quite awhile. His Nocturnes are lovely. I don't recall them being this good. 

[Florestan]

I had not listened to Chopin (or piano music) in a long time.

I mean years.

However, suddenly I felt like hearing Chopin Impromptus, one of the not so familiar provinces of his work.

I guess I only have two different Rubinstein recordings to choose from (and of course a ton of Fantaisie-Impromptus as CD-fillers).

Is there anyone in particular who is particularly good in these works?

Two classics:



Two contemporaries:

[vers la flamme]

I picked up an amazing recording of the E minor Piano Concerto last weekend: Emil Gilels w/ Eugene Ormandy & the Philadelphia Orchestra. Gilels might not be everyone's first choice as a Chopin pianist, but he is perfectly idiomatic and, as is his wont, brings out the contrapuntal elements of the music in a tasteful manner. The Philadephians under Ormandy provide a great accompaniment, though I might appreciate more detail in some of the tutti sections (but I don't know whether this is Ormandy's fault, or Chopin's—I don't know the concerto well enough).

Coupled w/ a recording of the F minor Concerto w/ André Watts, Thomas Schippers & the NY Philharmonic. Sounds good to me, too, despite that I don't know the soloist or conductor at all.