Customer Reviews

Chopin: Etudes

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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.

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.

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.

We will never hear Chopin's own critique of this performance, but I would imagine he would be just as stunned by Pollini's titanic virtuosity as I was the first time I heard this recording. Chopin dedicated his opus 10 (etudes 1-12) to none other than Franz Liszt. I mention this because Pollini plays this opus as though it was written by Liszt. Did Chopin intend opus 10 nos. 1-12 to be played in this Lisztian style? I would argue yes for the simple reason that this is a set of ETUDES, therefore the use of a mammoth technique is not out of place. Pollini's performance is captivating in it's accuray and power, as well as it's beauty (listen to opus 10 No.3).

I remember the first time I heard this album. I was 15 years old, sitting in my parents' minivan in the parking lot of the store at which I had just bought the CD. From the first BOOM of etude op10 No.1 to the last thunderous chord of op25 No.12 I sat transfixed, almost dazed by what I was hearing. It was a life altering experience for me. I was a mediocre piano student not too serious about my piano study. Hearing Pollini made me realize the possibilties of the piano and triggered an absolute resolve to master the instrument. Ten years later, I have mastered all of op.10 and some of opus 25. The reason I mention my background is I feel that I may offer some insight into what technical problems the pianist faces when tackling Chopin's etudes.

Opus 10 No.1 is comprised entirely of r.h. arpeggios with a chorale accompaniment. On the surface it doesn't sound extraordinarily difficult, but when we delve deeper we find the arpeggios are super wide with intervals of as much as a sixth between thumb and index finger and a fourth between the 4th and 5th fingers! At a tempo of 176! It's insane!!!

Opus 10 No.2 also doesn't sound particularly demanding until one realizes that the chromatic scales in the r.h. are played with mostly the 4th and 5th fingers! Try playing a chromatic scale in this way and you will instantly understand the difficulty.

Opus 10 No.3 is, by Chopin's own words, I paraphrase, "In all my life I have never heard a more beautiful melody." Apart from the tumultuous middle section and all of its chromatic tri-tones, the
piece is easy to play but maddeningly hard to play WELL.

Opus 10 No.4 sounds very demanding but is actually one of the easier etudes! There is lots of chromatic passagework along with quickly modulating descending diminished seventh chords. Proper phrasing and rhythmic control are the keys to mastering this etude.

Opus 10 No.5 is arguably the easiest etude. Its l.h. staccato chords are enveloped by a twirling r.h. accompaniment composed entirely of black keys. Proper r.h. arm rotation makes this etude totally effortless.

(I'll finish my analysis later.)

p.s. Garrick Ohlson's recording of the etudes is every bit as good, if not better, than Pollini's.

Since many people read these reviews as a source for deciding what to purchase (or not to purchase) I will start off by emphatically expressing that this one of the best piano performances/CDs of all time (and in the history of the piano most likely). There are not enough superlatives in the English vocabulary to describe this performance which is tantamount to elevating an earthly piano to the high heavens.

Etude = An instrumental piece, usually of some difficulty and most often for a stringed keyboard instrument, designed primarily to exploit and perfect a chosen facet of performing. (Groves)
Ok so Chopin's etudes are not exactly Czerny but they are still etudes!

The etudes, in my opinion, belong to a certain subset of pieces that stretch the limits of the piano, specifically, and the art of pianism, in general. This subset does not necessarily have to be defined, but Liszt and Rachmaninof also fall under this category.

One of the distinct qualities of Pollini that separates him from the rest of the crowd is COMPOSURE. Pollini has the ability to nullify all the human tendencies/temptations that are destructive to the cause of pure music (fear of mistakes, inability to sustain tempo, the legitimate tensing of the hand after technically difficult passages, uneven pedalling, swallowing notes, etc....) Pollini plays the 24 Etudes with practically no mistakes (if one listens closely the only intermittent mistakes are extremely trivial to nonexistent - taking a nanosecond here and there to breathe).
The Chopin etudes are some of the most feared pieces in the piano world. Not for nothing we don't have a complete strong recording of Rubinstein playing these.
Pollini presents a majestic, Olympian and masculine version of these pieces. His rendition in contrast to what his critics say (these critics always seem to be anonymous in nature... I would like to hear a substantive criticism of this rendition from a musicologist if possible) is emotional, just not sentimental (this draws him close to Richter). The pathos here derives from the notes themselves (and the score) and how the interplay with the other notes in a polyphonic, architectural way. These layers of sounds and the way Pollini constructs them is a manifestation of emotion through musical intelligence instead of showmanship. The HIGHEST level of emotion is when the emotion flows from the symmetry of the object itself in its most succinct, pure, and architectural form..... and exposes the nakedness of these tunes in their glory. This is analogous to breaking a multi dimensional diamond to its elements (or any very complex physical compound), like a Kaleidoscope. More specifically it is obvious that Pollini mastered each element in its own right.... the pedalling dynamics, each hand, the melodic structure, the harmonic developments. This is a much higher level of emotion than "trying" to be emotional (which is also a high level since many pianists play with little emotion). In fact, Neuhaus said similar things about Richter in his famous book on piano playing.

It is true that many pieces of Chopin are soft and fragile - the Nocturnes, the Mazurkas (these are pleasant pieces but rather simplistic at times), many of the waltzes.... The Chopin Etudes though are considered monumental to a pianist's pianism having that explosive mixture of everything - technique, virtuosity, polar opposite emotions... and this is what makes them so hard. One has to find the balance between the technical challenges and the wonderful melodies..
I could write a book on just the amazing musical miracle that is this Cd. When I first heard the Etude 1 Opus 10 I had to listen to it at least 100 times consecutively (I am not kidding) to even being to fathom what Pollini does here. Pollini's playing of the first etude is just from another planet... and this after comparing closely to Watts, Berevosky, Freire, Richter, Wild, Ohlson, Zayas, Ashkenazy, Lorte, Arrau, Lugansky, Perahia,Cherkassy (who makes some pretty notable mistakes), and Gavrilov (who plays this well also)...... Novaes, Chiu, Cziffra and Cortot ( I put these four in a separate category because their performance is absolutely unacceptable by any stretch of the imagination...I am not a diehard stickler of technique necessarily, but they play different chords and notes all together, I am not even sure they are playing Chopin at all.... a real crime against this music.... its almost laughable that people here can just "excuse" Cortot for practically making like 30-40 mistakes in one minute) and they are not even close AT ALL to Pollini. At some stage all of them either blatantly hit wrong notes or lose their cool/breath and have to hide it with pedalling/playing slower/speeding up (this is what I call the art of using rubato at times of need).
Pollini plays this grandiose - Pollini here is saying "I am the Napoleon of the piano." Pollini brings the "hidden" tune that appears right before the descending arpeggios (in the right hand) end (and go back up afterwards) and not only illuminates this tune but also merges it with the passage in the left hand perfectly.... all with perfect pedalling - giving it a monumental/ bell ringing texture. So you have a pianist that is playing fast, plus is able to play this hidden theme ( which is three notes per arpeggio - I can't understand how he did this (maybe he is possessed of some extraterestrial force). He is the only pianist who really has complete control of these hidden tunes. Richter does less of this and highlights the tune in the left hand more. I have even heard Richter really struggle a little bit with this etude (and he is one of the most technically brilliant pianists of all time). Its a pleasure also to hear this being played without panting, incorporating staccato like phrases, uneven pedaling and wrong notes, of course. Some of these arpeggios are unbelievably difficult. Pollini's playing of the revolutionary etude is much better than Perahias. Perahia and Ashkenazy at times play staccato instead of legato.... and don't accentuate the theme in the left hand..... Arrau does this also (I really don't like his version - he incorporates this staccato like legato at times).

Now, there is a review here that criticizes Pollini for not playing piano and staccato at the a minor arpeggio. So maybe wer should also not listen to Horowitz who made minor alterations of dynamics at times (this same reviewer reccommended Cortot who changes the actual NOTES). We can assume that pianists with the stature of Horowitz, Pollini, Perahia, and Richter have enough acumen to make small dynamic alterations, within reason (especially with Chopin). In fact Pollini does play this arpeggio slightly softer than the others. In addition dynamics is often a relative concept - piano is quiet RELATIVE to forte - there is no universal consent of what "quiet" is (again, within reason of course). For example, when there are two different cadenzas for a concerto and they both have different dynamics its at the pianists' discretion to merge some ideas. Now all this in the grand scheme is ludicrous (this arpeggio lasts about 2 seconds in the span of a 50-60 minute CD) but I wanted to bring this issue to light.
What makes a superstar pianist is the ability to do something that someone else cannot do (this applies to art and probably to most, if not all discplines). Do you honestly think that Pollini could not have played staccato if he wanted to? Pollini takes these pieces to terrain for beyond mere staccato-legato quandaries.

Ok enough already. There is no "opinion" involved here. The vast majority of pianists are too scared to even record this whole cycle (they like to hide behind nocturnes, mazurkas and various other concertos where they can hide behind an orchestra). From the few that have recorded the whole cycle they are rampant with either missed notes, nervousness leading to involuntary pulls/pushes in tempi, swallowing the melody, etc. (and this includes Richter who I have heard both in the BBC legends series and Richter in memoriam - and in both he sounds very nervous and makes many mistakes...... not getting even close to the level of Pollini.... and I say this being a big fan of Richter). There is no close second or room for comparison.
Please listen to #2 Opus 25 - this is the epitome of beauty and truth. No nonsense, no gimmicks.... just the pure sound of the piano. Pollini's understanding of music is beyond what mere mortals can discuss.

This is Pollini's gift to humanity - love it. Cherish it. Embrace it.
This is one of the best piano CDs ever. Period.
You will cry out to the heavens when you hear this CD.

This recording is hands down the best version of Chopin's Etudes currently available, and it's unlikely that any can surpass them. Pollini plays these devilishly difficult miniatures with stunningly virtuosic technique that cannot be matched. However, technique alone is not sufficient enough to play these etudes well. Also necessary is incredible musicianship, which Pollini shows he has in abundance. There is no Chopin player alive who plays these pieces quite as poetically as does Pollini. Too often you hear Chopin played as if it were Beethoven with power and feeling but without poetry and lyricism. Not with Pollini, whose impeccable technique and musicianship allow him to play the etudes flawlessly as well as poetically, like Chopin intended. Just listen to the Opus 25 Number 2 and you can hear exactly what I'm talking about. For incredible technique just listen to the Revolutionary etude, one which even the best pianists have trouble with due to the unusual virtuoso demands required by the left hand. Not much more can be said that hasn't already been said by others in praise of this recording. All I can say now is that if you don't already own this, get it ASAP. You definitely will not regret it.

I have bought most of the recent releases of Chopin's incredible studies, and I still believe that this recording comes closest to a pianistic ideal. Pollini is stunning in his ability to convey the greatest depth and technical facility in these two transversals of Romantic piano technique and musical expression. Some critics complain that Pollini is too cold to play this music, but I must completely disagree. Because he does not attack the music in demented manner or disrupt the musical line for the sake of misguided "individuality" does not mean that Pollini is unable to project incredible range of this music's emotions. Of course, as a technician, Pollini has few if any who come close to his command of the keyboard. I have listened to Perahia's recording (special in many of the studies), Lugansky's (Second favorite after Pollini's), Gavrilov's, Askenazy's, Lortie's, and the list goes on. I have also studied some half dozen of these myself in the last half decade, and it is this recording that I view as being ideal interpretively and technically. It is a must for anyone wishing to own a recording of the Chopin Etudes.

Chopin's Etudes are very complex piano pieces; this recording gives you the chance to appreciate them in the perfect masterful rendition of Maurizio Pollini. It's truly amazing to listen this recording for the first time - hearing the virtuoso pieces unravel in a blizt of intense, powerful storm of piano music.

Chopin's Etudes give us a glimpse into the way he, as a composer, explored the capabilities of his favourite instrument, the piano. The Etudes aren't the most delicate, raffined Chopin compositions.. But heck, they sure are energetic, enlightening, and Chopinistic!

This recording proves to be a "must-have" for Pollini fans, piano students, and piano lovers in general. Highly recommended to anyone familiar with Chopin's work, but not these particular pieces - they're a discovery to be heard and enjoyed time and time again!

I bought this album, heard the first track (Opus 10, Number 1), and I got a Pollini Jones (can't get enough of Pollini). Listen to Op. 10, No. 1--a two minute thrill ride. As is Op. 25, No. 12, the last track on the CD. They both move you in waves and torrents of notes beautifully and perfectly played. Most importantly, listening to this recording makes one think, "Ahh, here is Chopin's music," and not just, "Wow, Pollini sure can play the piano." Highly, highly recommended.

I have read critics who attack Pollini for a lack of feeling. Frankly, I think Pollini is the only artist who has ever been criticized for being too good! To compare these Etudes to just about any other performance is like comparing the view of a beautiful landscape through a pane of crystal-clear glass with the view through a window smeared with Vaseline. The clarity and articulation are breathtaking. The other set with which I am most familiar is Ashkenazy's - and he's no slouch. But IMHO, Pollini simply blows him away.