Customer Reviews

Alfred Cortot: The Master Classes

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3 star:		(1)
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This is a collection of musical fragments with spoken commentary. The pieces stop and start unexpectedly, and if you just want to sit down and enjoy some music, you'll find this set unnerving.

But what fragments! The format actually highlights how vividly Cortot could make a musical point: Some of these ideas leap off the CD, and will send you heading to the piano to figure out how he did what he did. For instance, his interpretation of Mozart's C-minor Fantasia, though stylistically anachronistic, makes almost all other performances of this piece seem emotionally stultified. This is the Mozart of "Don Giovanni" translated to the piano.

Most of the repertoire wasn't recorded elsewhere by Cortot -- an additional appeal for pianophiles.

This is one of the great treasures of the piano discography. I was swept off my feet when I heard the Partita No.1, Cortot's only ever Bach recording -- he plays it with elegance, elan, and warmth that easily surpasses Glenn Gould's account of the same piece. Cortot gives tremendous insight into all the works, even going as far as comparing Mozart's Fantasia in C minor to the epic Don Juan. The session was taped at the Ecole Normale de Musique in 1954, and although some of the playing is extremely messy Cortot's distinctive sound and poetry still stands out. This set will be a pleasure to both the professional and student alike.

The warning in title is referenced to the fact that the pieces listed are mere fragments with commentary by Cortot in French. It is shocking to me that a major company would release this as opposed to a smaller independent historically minded label due to the format. This is not for those new to classical music or those wanting indiviual repertoire because most likely you will only get seconds and in some cases minutes of each piece-that being interrupted constantly by Cortot as he discusses what he is doing-and even then for those who are pianists-he is talking subjectively rather than techniquely as in this part reminds me of a memory....as opposed to fingering dynamics etc. I loved this because it offered such rare insight to his playing and for those who love cortot-there are pieces here he never recorded elsewhere(it truly is in many ways almost like a dream come true-- a la the Keilberth Ring cycle on Testament). Anyone, even historical enthusiasts, not interested in Cortot should not purchase this and again, it is in French with booklet translations.