Chopin: Etudes Ballads & Waltzes [Original recording remastered]

Frederic Chopin (Composer), Agustin Anievas (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Agustin Anievas
• Composer: Frederic Chopin
• Audio CD (July 3, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00005B5NP
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #406,988 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jaw-dropping!, October 30, 2001

By 

Steven L. Patterson (New York, NYUSA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chopin: Etudes Ballads & Waltzes (Audio CD)

How thrilling to see these performances FINALLY arrive on CD. Our poor old vinyl copy of the Etudes has been worn paper thin. I can still recall the first time my partner played it for me -- my jaw literally dropped. Performances of astonishing technical virtuosity and brilliant clarity, always in the service of the music itself. You'll hear inner voices in these performances I doubt you've ever heard before. Anievas makes this music speak in a way no other performance I've ever heard has. It's criminal that he's not better known. I can't imagine a better gift to yourself or anyone else who loves this music.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, bountiful bargain, July 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Chopin: Etudes Ballads & Waltzes (Audio CD)

I stumbled across these disks in my ongoing Amazon.com search for versions of the Chopin waltzes to add to my fairly large collection. I am embarrassed to say that I had known nothing of Agustin Anievas before reading the liner notes that accompany these recordings, but I shall be on the lookout for his name from now on. His interpretations of the waltzes sound relaxed and are certainly realxing. Unlike many other pianists, Anievas seems largely intent upon mining the melodious rather than upon showcasing his own technical abilities -- not only in the waltzes (19 of them rather than the traditional 14) but in the etudes and ballades as well. Particularly impressive is his ability somehow to produce powerful fortes and even fortissimos without banging on the keys. The quality of his sound as reproduced here undoubtedly owes much to engineers and producers of EMI. Anievas obviously loves the music, and he manages to render it more lovable than ever to this Chopinophile. The abundance provided on this 2CD set makes the price a real bargain.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A long overdue CD, October 29, 2001

By 

"saz4landl" (McLean, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chopin: Etudes Ballads & Waltzes (Audio CD)

To many piano afficianados, Agustin Anievas' performances of the daunting Chopin Etudes have long been considered among the most accomplished among those of the great artists of our times who have recorded them. Anievas achieves not only technical mastery (he first performed the Etudes at the age of 10!), but succeeds in demonstrating that these works challenge not only the performer's technique, but his interpretative range.

Finally, they have appeared on CD, a bargain in itself. But to find the Ballades and Waltzes added to the package makes this one of the best buys of the year, not only musically but economically as well.

I rate it among the prize piano albums in my collection.