Customer Reviews

Chopin: Nocturnes, 4 Ballades

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

 

 

(I hate writing titles for these reviews.) Anyway, I couldn't disagree more with the reviewer below. Ashenazy is, next to Rubinstein, one of the best Chopin interpreters around. He is not "dry," merely subtle, suggesting rather than declaring, which is what Chopin had in mind with these mood pieces. His technique is flawless but he never flaunts it as some other pianists I have heard do. The ballades are excellent and played at perfect tempos.

Ashkenazy is a talented and expressive musician. He brings feeling and life to Chopin's timeless classics. The nocturnes (love songs) can be enjoyed by both the accomplished pianist and the novice listener. This is some of the finest music ever written, expertly performed.

These are great! Ashkenazy is definentley one of the great Chopin interpreters. All of the people who say that Ashkenazy has no emotion in his playing are wrong! Ashkenazy has a beautiful tone in his playing. His interpretations are also great. He is the thinking man's pianist. If you don't understand what I am saying, I am saying that he plays with perfect technique and he thinks the piece through intellegently and he dosen't go for the big flash while playing. This might be one ofthe reasons why people say he is emotionless. He still has emotion even if he dosen't do that thing where you sway while playing and you move way to much (that is a stupid thing to do because it dosen't help and it can hurt your technique while playing). The only person who has played Chopin better than Ashkenazy is Emanuel Ax (I am not saying that Rubinstein and Horowitz etc. are worse than Ashkenazy, they are just as good, but they all are different. Emanuel Ax has the most beautiful tone I have ever heard. Sadly not many Ax recordings exist anymore. Ashkenazy plays the Nocturnes beautifully especially F minor. Chopin plays the Ballades with the same beauty heard in the Nocturnes and (once again) the F minor ballade (no. 4) is one of, if not the best recording I have ever heard. So to summarize Ashkenazy does have a beautiful tone and an intellegent approach to Chopin, so this is a great buy!

In my opinion, Chopin's Nocturnes and Ballades are some of the most beautiful repertoire ever written for the piano, and it doesn't necessarily matter who is playing them, so long as they are Chopin. Yes, I agree that pieces can be performed badly, and this hinders their quality significantly, but anyone who is a dedicated enough musician to have been recorded is obviously capable of performing the repertoire. There is no doubt that Ashkenazy is an incredible pianist, with great technique and versatility. Anyone could nitpick about the nuances of his playing, criticizing certain aspects or welcoming others. The obvious truth is that everyone's preferences and opinions are different, and therefore, there is no way that everyone could possibly be pleased by any one object. This is why you will find various negative reviews scattered among the praise, usuallytaking a shot at Ashkenazy's "stiff" or "emotionless" interpretations.

I find that, as a whole, this set of nocturnes is one of the best available for purchase. When I say best, I mean best for the value, quality of recording, completeness, and quality of playing. There may be other performers whose recordings I like a tiny bit more on some cases (particularly the C Minor Nocturne 48/1) but that doesn't bring down the quality of this set. The facts are, Ashkenazy is a perfectionist, like any other recorded pianist, and therefore there are no mistakes in his playing, the tempi and dynamics are well-thought out, as he has studied these pieces extensively, and the emotions are as ever-present as one could hope, for Ashkenazy has been performing for many years in concert settings, and piano is obviously the focal point of his life.

This is the only set I have found available at such a price which includes the Nocturnes and Ballades. Both cd's contain over 70 minutes of material, which is incredible for the price. As I said before, the recording quality is crisp, without the crackle and pop of some earlier recordings (Rubinstein) or the heavy breathing of others (Arrau). Criticisms and qualms about individual nocturnes aside, (and they are there) this is still one of the best sets around. There are many more good things to say about Ashkenazy's playing than bad ones, in my opinion. If you are expecting these interpetations to sound overly conservative, this is not the case. Ashkenazy is infamous for being very faithful to the score, which I think is very true about these nocturnes. Where rubato is indicated, he uses rubato. Where the score says accelerando, Ashkenazy plays faster. The dynamics and tempi are usually identical to the urtext editions. In this sense, Ashkenazy is conservative, because he does not show his own artistica style possibly as much as some others, but he is very respectful of Chopin, and is most concerned with playing these pieces the way the composer intended. In my opinion, this is superemly important and commendable. This is a great package of Nocturnes and Ballades, and Ashkenazy is reknowned for a reason.

Like Rubenstein, Ashkenazy recorded practically all of Chopin's piano music. Not all of it deserved kudos. But this recording of the nocturnes is essentially one of the best recordings I have ever heard. Many consider Rubenstein to be the gold standard to compare all others. Although I agree that Rubenstein has contributed a lot, especially when it comes to Chopin, I still think these Nocturnes are more pensive and intimate in expression. Ashkenazy plays them beautifully and better captures the mood than any other.

We get to sample on line now, so you can verify for yourself, but I find this to be a very satisfying recording. The sound is full and rich and the playing expressive and vibrant.

I'm listening to a lot of Chopin recently and think my Rubinstein recordings are great performances, but sonically lacking. This CD makes a good addition to my library at a good price.

The sonic experience of this Chopin CD is wonderful! Of course Ashkenazy is faithful to the master in this world class edition of the Nocturnes (and all four Ballades, as well). And of course his technique is brilliant, as always. But an extra that I always look for in a classical CD is a beautiful sonic experience, and that is where this two-CD set is exceptional.

The full dynamic range of the piano is present throughout, as well as the deep resonances of the bass and the crystalline brilliance of the treble. At times Ashkenazy's technique is especially breathtaking (such as in the finale of the G minor Ballade), while at other times the 32nd notes fly lightly and effortlessly (as in the Db Major Nocturne, near the end). But he is always very musical.

I highly recommend this CD set, as well as Thibaudet's two-CD set of the Debussy Nocturnes----what a sonic experience that is!).

Jean-Yves Thibaudet ~ Debussy - complete piano works, vol. 1

I bought this CD as a reference as I am learning Chopin's nocturnes. I don't think Ashkenazy as that great a Chopin player. He's playing is relatively dry compared to other pianists. Take Mikhail Pletnev for example. The recording isn't too good either. All in all, this is a great CD to purchase only if your budget is limited and you're not expecting to listen to this over and over again.

I bought this cd last year. I heard so much about Ashkenazy, and his face is anywhere in music stores.
I think this cd is among the big disappointments I periodically listen to. To do Ashkenazy justice, I have to say there are some older recordings that I still treasure, such as the Rachmaninoff preludes, of the suites for 2 pianos of the same composer, but they are all recordings of the early 70's.

Not much, instead, I manage to treasure of this new Ashkenazy
Regarding this particular Chopin recording, consider, for example, the Prelude in C minor, op. 48 No.1. Its second part is a wild galloping towards a forseeable tragic end, but in Ashkenazy fingers it reduces to a mere pretty lyric piece. It is truly emotionless. This Chopin played by Ashkenazy sounds somewhat like Baudelaire or Apollinaire read in german with a metronome stuck in Largo. And even sober!
What is Chopin worth, I ask, when you leave all his stormy contrapunt out? The rest of the collection surely has a nice cover, but leaves me totally emotionless.

I understand that, as Arrau once said, "Chopin should be played like Mozart and Mozart like Chopin", but why can't someone play Chopin just like Chopin?

A collection that I find really giving Chopin some justice, instead, sometimes not too popular, is the one Nocturnes playes by Dame Moura Lympany, or the Etudes played by Gavrilov, tough, you understand, it can be a matter of taste.