Customer Reviews

Chopin Etudes

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The previous review panning Perahia's Chopin Etudes proves there is always someone who will write anything to be contrarian.

Murray Perahia's performance of the Etudes has ALL the technical finesse of Pollini and ALL the musicality of Cortot's cycle. For those who doubt this, just listen to the incredibly balanced right hand arpeggios in the first Etude of Op. 10, the fiery octaves of the B Minor Etude, and the perfect passsagework in the A Minor from Op. 25. Beyond a doubt, the pianist is fully recovered from the thumb injury he suffered in the 1990s. Yet with Perahia, unlike some pianists, technique is never an end in itself, and the quieter Etudes feature the beautiful, natural phrasing we have come to expect from this artist (and Perahia is a true artist, not a mere mechanicus like Cziffra). In other words, this is one of the few sets of Etudes that sustains interest through the slow pieces, not just the fast ones.

Sony's sound is also absolutely first rate, which of course cannot be said for Cortot's set which originated on 78RPM discs. One minor complaint, why didn't Sony persuade Perahia to also record the Trois Nouvelles Etudes?

I very much appreciated the previous two customer reviews of Perahia's Chopin "Etudes". As always, Mr. Perahia is very concerned about the harmonic structure of a piece - the direction of the harmony. Most remarkably, I thought, in Opus 10, Number 1, he delineated the melodic and harmonic structures in the left hand while beatifully spinning out the right hand writing with seeminly effortless control and lyricism. I have listened to this recording every day since I purchased it, and each time I am
amazed as I hear "new" harmonic progressions beautifully balanced by the right hand "melody". Murray Perahia is not just a great pianist; for me, he is also an inspiring teacher who has opened to me the world of structure and form, deeply enhancing my understanding of great music. Glorious!

Even if you already own a copy of someone else playing Chopin Etudes, I urge you to consider getting a copy of Perahia's interpretation.

One often heard criticism of Perahia is that he is predictable, and therefore boring. Nothing could be farther from the truth in this recording. While you can predict which note comes next, the interpretation is fresh, and an absolute delight to listen to.

This is the first Perahia's cd i buy and all i can say is that he's a great virtuoso. I've listened to many pianists on these pieces and Perahia's recording is one of the best. His performance is excellent and the sound quality is superb. Maybe his rendition of the "Revolutionary" Etude is different from other great standards...quite strange. Anyway Murray Perahia's playing on the entire cd is very fluent and balanced. Just great! For other beautiful versions check out: Boris Berezovsky, Andrei Gavrilov, Juana Zayas and Jean-Frédéric Neuburger.

After hearing Mr. Perahia in Carnegie Hall this past Spring I was amazed at his sense of "structure" he brought to the
Schubert, Beetoven and Chopin pieces in the program. He treated
us (both in program and encores) to some of the etudes heard here
and virtually brought the house down with #11 in A minor as the
first of his several encores. This is a special recording and
I was extremly pleased to see this CD available here last
week. My benchmark for these "studies" was the imcomparable
"Cortot". However, Mr. Perahia not only holds his own with the
latter's "famous" recording back in the early past of the 20th
century but even shines new light on these most famous works!
Mr. Perahia simply goes where most pianists cannot in these pieces! They require a mix of virtuosity, technique,
and poetry (many of the three all at the same time). Perhaps
it's Mr. Perahia's study of Bach; perhaps his interest in a
wide body of music and composers; maybe his work with Horowitz?
Whatever the case, if you love great piano playing, great and
accurate Chopin, or just great music in general, this CD is
a must have! A monumental release from a pianist that continues
to grow and bring pleasure to lovers of great music everywhere!
See him in recital this season if you can!

The Chopin Etudes have daunted many pianists with their technical demands. Even Artur Rubenstein admitted to being scared of them, and avoided playing them for years.

So it is with great courage that Murray Perahia approaches these pieces, and the result is phenomenal. He not only plays them as if they were the easiest things in the world; he also makes musical statements.

All of the etudes are played so remarkably, that it's difficult to pick just a few as highlights. I'll venture to say, though, that technically, the best performance is the "Study in Thirds" Etude (Op. 25, No. 6). His performance on this CD is very similar to the one I heard him give in concert at the Kennedy Center this April. You get the impression that he must have three hands, in order to play such effortless, flowing thirds.

And from a musical standpoint, I deem the Op. 10, No. 3 Etude to be the best. He's recorded it before, but this performance is more polished and musically mature.

Perhaps the only slight disappointment is his interpretation of the "Revolution" Etude (Op. 10, No. 12), which is a bit too subtle for my tastes.

Overall, an outstanding recording. Bravo!

I had been waiting for Murray Perahia's recording of the complete Chopin Etudes since the beginning of this year. I had no idea that it would released so soon, because his previous recording of the Bach Concertos 3, 5, 6, 7 was released about 6 months ago. (I figured that one recording per year would be enough.) Perahia's recording of the complete Chopin Etudes is absolutely breath taking. Most pianists would agree that Chopin's Etudes are not easy to learn and to play well. However, that doesn't seem to be a problem for Perahia. Words cannot describe Perahia's playing. His technique, sense of touch, phrasing, and understanding of Chopin's music is truly fantastic. In his earlier recording of the Chopin 4 Ballades (1995), Perahia also played two of Chopin's Etudes: Op. 10/3 and Op. 10/4. However, Op. 10/3 and Op. 10/4 in THIS new recording sounds much more alive and improvised. I would recommend this recording to all Perahia fans, Chopin lovers, and pianists.

I don't think I know of any other pianist who can play with as much lightness of tone as Murray Perahia. His God-given talent enables him to makes it sound as if though his music is floating. In addition, he has a technique that enables him to run technical passages with such fluency that it can sound almost like a breeze of notes. But, like all musicians, there are some things that don't come easily for Perahia. Perahia's challenge is delivering heroic grandeur, something that one should want in these etudes. In the etudes that require punch and heavy drama, Perahia will inevitably sound as if though his limits are being pushed. The form in which this comes is often a harshness of tone that almost seems to belie his gift of sensitivity. I guess none of us are perfect. So, my complaint with this album is its lack of any kind of fire, anything intense. In such etudes as the "Revolutionary", there is not much revolution to boot. I would love to go away with renewed passion after listening to such ground-breaking works, but I just don't get it here.

But perhaps I'm being a bit unfair to a pianist who had just recovered from a serious hand injury. This isn't playing that fails to arouse any kind of emotion. I'm actually surprised how flawlessly strong his technique is; his hand injury hasn't caused any kind of technical setbacks. And while this disc lacks throbbing excitement, it is full of hair-rising virtuosic playing--playing that pulls out lots of detail. Some of the etudes are more suited to this approach than others; Perahia's approach seems to work the best with the 5th etude, the "Black Key". The sheer thrill of hearing these etudes played with such ease makes this CD worth the listen.

So, despite its setbacks, this is a fine album. It just doesn't stand up near the top of the list of Perahia's achievements, a pianist who elsewhere sends me into raves.

Perhaps in no other genre Chopin opened his heart with major intensity. The introspectiveness of these pages reveal the spiritual core, composed as any human being of passion, poetic ardor, patritic flame, fevered lyricism and profound sentiment.

The emotional scope cover practically both extremes of the human pathos; from the incandescent Revolutionary Etude No. 12 Op. 10 composed just when his beloved country and consequently bereaved nationality is besieged and invaded by the Russians, to the suugestive No. 3 Op. 10.

It might be said that throughout every one of these 27 Etudes (!2 from Op. 10, 12 from Op. 25 and three additional) his poetic soul as the sun rays were diffracted by a prism.

To my mind, the rest of his compositions brilliant and majestic lack of that kaleidoscopic feature, due they are more focused in a very specific anima state.

There have been countless versions, but just a few should be preserved and collected. This set expresses with visible commitment that changing pathos with bright intensity and artistic conviction.

Taken together, these etudes confirm Perahia's artistic progression. The music is partly about technique, so there are lots of opportunities to demonstrate his technical bravura; yet to me the most impressive technical moments are feats of subtlety, as in the op. 10 #3 (c major) in which he accentuates the counterpoint with wonderful clarity and such lyrical grace that he brought a smile to my face. Bach was Chopin's favorite composer, and Perahia has been recording Bach for the past several years, so he's sensitive to some of the finer strucutral elements of the etudes many pianists gloss over. Still, there's one aspect of Chopin that Perahia's playing here fails to realize: its wildness. Anyone who has heard, for example, Sviatoslav Richter's 1960 Prague recital performances of op. 10 #4 (c-sharp minor) or op. 10 #12 (c minor) will find Perahia's readings tame by comparison. Richter takes it right to the brink, and there is a hair-raising thrill to his playing that is missing in Perahia's more measured approach. Ultimately, I guess, the two books of etudes are so rich and various nobody, not even the fabulously-talented Perahia, can master all of them. But he's given us a great deal here.