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Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Frédéric Chopin - Piano Concerto No. 2; Scherzi (Seong-Jin Cho)


Information

Composer: Frédéric Chopin
  1. Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20
  2. Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31
  3. Scherzo No. 3 in C sharp minor, Op. 39
  4. Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54
  5. Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21: I. Maestoso
  6. Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21: II. Larghetto
  7. Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21: III. Allegro vivace
  8. Étude in C minor "Revolutionary", Op. 10/12
  9. Impromptu in A flat major, Op. 29
  10. Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9/2

Seong-Jin Cho, piano
London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Date: 2021
Label: Deutsche Grammophon

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Review

My immediate reaction to the opening track – the first of the Four Scherzos – was ‘fast, furious, fantastic fingers, with very little breathing space for any question-and-answer phrasing’. The opening of the Second Scherzo elicited the same response. What else can this pianist do, the winner of the 2015 International Chopin Competition? The yearning central section of the piece gave me the answer, showing that he can also play with real tenderness and delicacy.

The C sharp minor Third Scherzo is marked Presto con fuoco. I have rarely heard it played quite so presto and quite so con fuoco. His phrasing of the unison octave passages that punctuate the work was exciting and utterly convincing, though it must be a moot point whether, after this, the left hand’s bold octave figuration’s masking of Cho’s ultra-rapid right-hand passagework will be to everyone’s taste. His handling of the più lento/sotto voce version of the second subject towards the end was most sensitively done. Once again, fiery dynamic contrasts were on display in the Fourth Scherzo. Overall, if one really must play all of the Scherzos in sequence, I have a personal preference for the more refined and subtle pianism of Nelson Freire (1974) and Stephen Hough (2003). However, if you like your Chopin played with breathless excitement and impressive technical authority, then you will not be disappointed. Seong-Jin Cho takes no prisoners.

Finally, the concerto – and how good it is to have an orchestra-and-piano work placed alongside solo pieces. This is a muscular, robust performance from the soloist with Cho totally dominating proceedings, the LSO offering nothing particularly special, quite happy to chug along in its designated subservient role. More could have been made of the threatening, shivering strings during the central episode of the slow movement, and the first of the three famous cor de signal bars (introducing the final F major section) sounds rather coarse.

Performances of the ‘Revolutionary’ Study, the Impromptu in A flat and Nocturne in E flat, Op 9 No 2, are also available, but only on the digital version of the album, not on the CD.

-- Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone


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Frédéric Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era. Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest superstars, his association with political insurrection, his love life and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era in the public consciousness. His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying degrees of historical accuracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frédéric_Chopin

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Seong-Jin Cho (born 28 May 1994 in Seoul) is a South Korean pianist. He graduated from Seoul Arts High School, and was a student of Michel Béroff at the Conservatoire de Paris. Cho won several prestigious competitions such as First prize of the 2008 International Fryderyk Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, Third prize of the 2014 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, and First prize of the latest 2015 XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. In February 2016 Cho signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, with his first studio album released in November.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seong-Jin_Cho
http://www.seongjin-cho.com/

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2 comments:

  1. Ronald DoApril 12, 2022 at 3:53 AM

    Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Skip Ad' (or 'Get link').
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    ReplyDelete
  2. GandalfApril 12, 2022 at 9:37 PM

    Thanks for your effort Ron - however, this is one of the worst renditions of Chopin I've ever heard. Ugh. Stick with the classic players, folks!

    ReplyDelete

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