Customer Reviews

Chopin: Etudes, Opp. 10 & 25

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With the brilliant virtuosity that I have found only his, Andrei Gavrilov sets in my opinion the best Op. 10 & 25 Chopin etude performance commercially recorded. His crisp but untiresome technicality is unmatched, while the undulations of his phrasing gives mountains of substance and weight behind his penetrating precision. This recording was extremely difficult to find, as I believe his European recording contract limited distribution here, but now this recording is available state-side! Some 14 years after hearing the original issue, my recollection of it has not diminished or inflated listening to it again today. Every track stands well against the best of all the Chopin etude recordings I have ever heard. Well worth the price originally, now it is an incredible value for anyone's library that won't just stay on your shelf.

This rendition of Chopin's Etudes is surely one of the best i've ever listened to. Andrei Gravilov has an extraodinary technique and every Etude is perfomed not only perfectly but with so much passion and fire to astonish the listener. At the moment i own nine sets of these beautiful pieces and this one along with Boris Berezovsky and Juana Zayas is the best in my opinion. All the others (Pollini, Peraya, Ashkenazy, Chiu, Cziffra, Cherkassky, Virsaladze, Tomassi)are really notable and very different. I love all of them though Berezosky, Gravilov, Zayas, Lugansky and Neuburger stand a part for the passion overall, the lyricism and beyond-descripion technique displayed.

Highly recommended!

I bought this album many years ago when it was a full-price issue from EMI. Sad to see such a great recording languishing in the "bargain bin" while pedants praise the likes of Pollini. But a bargain it is, and what performances they are! My favorite.

I collected a lot of CD's in the '90's, many based on Penguin Guide recommendations. While many of these have regrettably collected dust on the shelf, after several years the Gavrilov/Chopin CD is still the first Chopin CD I reach for. Gavrilov first piqued my interest after I heard his stunning recording of Balakirev's Islamey on NPR. After that, I had to investigate this Chopin CD and have not been disappointed. I look forward to hearing his Melodiya Rach 3 on CD.

Few people on this planet can deliver such an incredible performance of Chopin's etudes. They are very technical by nature, and to hear Gavrilov deliver them with such precision and emotion is almost indescribable. Gavrilov is in that category of individuals who, as someone has said, is "unimagineably great". This is a must have album for all serious Chopin and romantic music afficianados!

I have never heard of anyone playing Chopin with such mixture of opposite qualities. Every notes and every phrase are full of explosive power and delicacy, intense emotion and indifference. It is such a sophisticated performance I was left stunned after listening to it. I had to listen to it over and over again and still couldn't believe he managed the Etudes so effortlessly.

If you are looking for something extraordinary, something unique yet still capture the essense of Chopin, Andrei Gavrilov is definately not to be missed.

Andrei Gavrilov possesses a bravura technique and an absolute domain of the musical form, that feature is a virtue but also may work out as failure at the moment to over emphasize crescendos or prolongated tremolos. Let's state once more: Chopin is not Liszt. The mission of any pianist is not produce applauses from the gallery, but to create atmospheres, to play these Etudes is like to be in front of a huge canvas, where you must employ every Etude with its own tonality, either more or less.

Recommended, although my favorite set is by far Samson Francois, still available in Amazon.

Andrei Gavrilov starts the first etude in C major and right away captivates with his barnstorming technique. I can appreciate a more delicate, poetic style and I have experienced recordings in that department yet at the same time it's a thrill to hear a pianist out to impress.

It would be a disservice to write off this recording as just high-energy and nothing more. The less hectic pieces are played beautifully and the full pathos of the slower etudes find Gavrilov completely in tune with the music. This is one approach to Chopin among many and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sound quality is very good digital.

I think there are few pianists who can be accused of playing the Chopin etudes too fast, since it is for most etudes almost impossible to play them faster as the original metronome markings (by Chopin) indicate.

Well, Gavrilov does it! Although the result is at times astonishing, I feel that he tends to overemphasize his technical abilities and sometimes, on careful listening, loses SOME accuracy, not only with regards to "hitting the right keys" but also with regards to dynamic markings and pedaling.

I feel that recording by Pollini and Askenazy (his first Melodya recording) do more justice to these incredible pieces.

Still, this cd is definately worth listening to.

To master the Chopin Etudes, you have to be a very skilled pianist, in the technical sense. Gavrilov is certainly a great technician, but these performances also have heart. The romantic expressiveness sets this recording well above other performers who shine in the technical execution, but are lacking in feeling. I've listened to many recordings of Chopin's music, and especially the Etudes, and Gavrilov is one of my all-time favorites.

A note on the tracks, and the misleading title. This recording contains the Etudes from Opus 10 and Opus 25. Despite the names of the tracks, the 3 Etudes from the posthumous opus are not included here.