Customer Reviews

Chopin Journal Intime

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I have been listening to the cd for the last three weeks at home, in my car, and wherever else I can. It has grown on me because of Tharaud's great color and sense of lyricism. His closing of the Fantasie-Impromptu is a great example of this aspect, as are the g minor ballad and the small posthumous nocturne. Perhaps in the bigger pieces, he doesn't have the same "from above" aspect as Pollini, as in the third ballade, but it has been wonderful to hear a different perspective on these pieces and to hear such lyricism in the smaller ones.

I subscribe to the Angel Records monthly newsletter and this month they featured a free download from this new pianist. Here's the[...]

Anyway - I downloaded the track and instantly fell in love with Mr. Tharaud. I did some research on him and found out that he's one of today's most individual and thoughtful pianists. I think it's perfect that this French pianist is making his debut with a collection of his favourite pieces from the ever popular Polish composer, Chopin - whom spent a good amount of time in Paris during his career. Alex plays with superlative technique and the CD is breathtaking. This is definitely not your ordinary Chopin disc.

No one mounted to the rooftops to shout "the French are coming, the French are coming," yet somehow we have enjoyed a veritable invasion of French and French-based pianists (Aimard, Thibaudet,Angelich, Grimaud, et al.). In number they outstrip their German and Italian rivals, which is rather amazing, since French pianism has hardly been dominant on the international scene in the past (Casadesus over Kempff? Hardly.) Among the most lauded of the younger generation is 31-year-old Alexandre Tharaud, whose earlier Chopin disc won raves in high places.

I am not in a high place, so I'm free to say that he doesn't bowl me over. Tharaud is typed as an intellectual musician, and to be sure, there's more calculation in his approach than emotinal sweep. His Chopin is full of eccentric starts and stops and broken phrases, all done with taste and total lack of exaggeration. But at a certain point this kind of intelligent fussiness, if I can call it that, is crazy-making. Tharaud can't let two bars go by naturally; he micromanages literally every beat. Horowitz did the same on a grand scale. Apparently grandness is out, but the same nervous tinkering is praised on a small scale. On this whole disc, nothing sounded right to me except the Mazurkas, whose off-kilter rhythms suit Tharaud's off-kilter temperament.

As a test case, I urge you to try the Ballade no. 1, comparing Tharaud's inward, highly personal style with the sweep of Kissin, the natural instincts of Ax, or the aristocratic power of Pollini. No doubt Tharaud has as much to say in this music as any rising pianist, but he speaks in a language too skewed for me.

A superb Chopin recital. Alexandre Tharaud is a genius. He NEVER disappoints me. This is a MUST HAVE Chopin album.