Chopin: Etudes

Frederic Chopin (Composer), Maurizio Pollini (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Maurizio Pollini
• Composer: Frederic Chopin
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001G5H
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,399 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #4 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Etudes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 129 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chopin reviews for beginners, November 14, 2005

By 

Wayne A. (Belfast, Northern Ireland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Chopin: Etudes (Audio CD)

I'd imagine that anyone serious about the solo piano repertoires owns several recordings of these Etudes and probably has given Mr. Pollini's at least a spin. If you're new to this, Pollini has a substantial reputation as a pianist and many of his other recordings have garnered praise. Judging from the hubbub here with these reviews you'll quickly learn that there are two teams battling around this composer, and they tend to represent emotion versus intellect. This is a tough issue with Chopin as the composer himself gave indications he wanted to be considered a "classical" (that's "intellectual" but even that's questionable) composer. Some of this music, played "classically" may have struck his contemporaries as romantic nontheless. It's all discussions about angels dancing on heads of pins.

Some think Pollini's approach is too intellectual, meaning he downplays the schmaltz...perhaps, I'm never sure. OK, these are not the dreamiest performances maybe--I wouldn't use them for a hot-tub seduction--but they're really spectacular anyway; his technique is incredible. The first Etude that one reviewer here hated took my breathe away with its precision and dramatic sweep. The rest of the disc is great. I think anyone new to this music would be very happy with this disc.

What's bugging me these days about what we're doing here, and why I think I'll bag out of doing it anymore, is that, well, on one hand we've got Pollini, a world-renowned pianist who is known for his interpretive thoughfulness and Frederic Chopin who seems to be widely regarded as a composer of top notch music. Then there's me--a complete nobody with a PC and an internet connection--and some guy from East Butthead, and some other guy from Nowheresville, all pontificating on a great pianist and a great composer like we're some sort of world-class experts, which none of us really can be because this isn't a science. It's mostly opinion and history has shown that even "expert" opinion is often badly skewed. Just ruminate on all the advanced degree holders in Germany who thought Hitler was a whiz-bang.

This music is supposed to be entertaining, it should be fun, it should enrich our lives. It's not tasteless low-fat ice cream, or soy milk, or daily exercise. The whole classical music shtick has been weighted down by over-opinionated students and grumpy over-opinionated middle-aged men who seem to think that there's only one way to do something--reminds me of a pig-headed uncle I once had, the sort of guy who used only one--the correct--pattern to mow the lawn. Sometimes I think we should just watch for mediocrity (and even that's a matter of opinion) or plain old incompetence. My view is that it's just best to share what we think is special; share our enthusiasm for a piece, a performance, and ditch the portentious mudslinging. Sadly, most of these recordings we crank about probably won't even be in print in ten years.

Maybe,hopefully, some future generation will rediscover all this great music, see it fresh, and bring the sense of awe and wonder back to it that it deserves.

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A legendary, unforgettable performance, February 2, 2000

By 

Chip Hartranft (Arlington, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chopin: Etudes (Audio CD)

Maurizio Pollini's musical vision is unique. There has simply never been a pianist as direct, or playing as lucid, in the entire history of the instrument. Nor has there ever been an artist so averse to generic expressivity of any kind. In nearly ever piece he undertakes to play, Pollini manages to distill every phrase, to reduce things to their essentials. While his utter lack of sentimentality has attracted critical barbs over the years - he is purported to be 'cold', 'mechanical' , 'intellectual' (horrors!) - it actually arises from the deepest kind of spiritual engagement. Pollini is able to achieve this depth of engagement in part because of the extraordinary freedom his memory and technical facility permit.

Pollini's recording of the Chopin Études is legendary, and with good reason. I imagine that Chopin, much as he envied Liszt, would have simply been astonished by the masculine energies, the sheer majesty Pollini summons from these pieces. Without calling the least attention to himself, Pollini creates a sound world so compelling that no listener can go away unmoved. That his austerity, intensity, and refusal ever to swoon has moved some listeners to think they hear a lack of musicality is not surprising, but it says much more about those listeners than about Pollini! My advice: disregard them, dive into these performances, and discover a Chopin like no other.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pollini and Chopin, November 4, 2005

By 

T. Cheng "tim69c" (Diamond Bar, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chopin: Etudes (Audio CD)

In reading these various reviews, let's say that everyone has their own opinion. However, wheter one sees Pollini's Chopin as cold and indifferent (someone calls him a "calculator") or as one of the greats of this generation, I simply invite you to listen. I will give you a specific, towards the end of the powerful Etude nos 12 op.10, starting at the 2'12" mark, listen to the way Pollini handles the left hand arpeggios, the accompaniment. With anyone else, this is just that, but with Pollini, this becomes- for me- a meditative, masterpiece of stillness, juxtaposed with the thunder that flashes at at 2'30". No one else plays it like this.
Another aspect of Pollini's unique style of interpretation can be heard in the nos7 op.25, the greatest of the Etudes. This is usually played as an overtly Romantic, love-sick tune, done to the point of smaltz. Pollini plays the notes as Chopin writes them. No more, no less.
Is Romantic music such as Chopin's to be interpreted from performer to performer, from generation to generation as the reviewer below says? I think not. If Chopin wanted something to be played with extra sadness or expression, he would have indicated so. George Sand documentated famously how Frederick would tear his hair out getting a single bar of music just right, taking days behind a closed door. A single bar!! The great composers were aboslutely meticulous in their dynamic markings, they knew what they were doing... let's hear the music as they meant them to be heard.
This is one of the greatest Chopin recordings in the repertoire.