Customer Reviews

Chopin: Préludes, Op.28

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

 

 

I bought this recording in vinyl in the early 80s and am still astounded by Pollini's ability to make each prelude individual but still part of a complete opus. I later have bought recordings of this work by Argerich, Perahia, Lortie, Kissin, Ashkenazy, Alexeev, and Pires. All bring special qualities to this incredible work that stands as one of the peaks of piano compostition, but I have found no other recording that matches Pollini's intellectual control, his passion, or comprehensive technique. As a student of these works, I believe that this recording is the benchmark, a truly sublime reading of one of Chopin's most diverse and important works.

This CD won a Grand Prix du Disc in the original vinyl version. The preludes are miracles in miniature, revealing Chopin at his most subtle and masterful. Pollini movingly brings to life the many voices of these amazing short pieces. If I had to take one CD to a desert island, this would probably be it.

Pollini's famous recordings of Chopin's 1st concerto and etudes are justly acclaimed, but this choice album is begging for reissue in the "Originals" series. Pollini masterfully plays these microcosmic works as a cycle with trademark technical assurance and in a warmer tone than the etudes album--there is no lack of delicacy in the F-sharp major and F major preludes, for instance. Riveting from the opening C major prelude to the cataclysmic D minor conclusion (a favorite encore of his), this remains my preferred version of this opus despite more-or-less competitive alternatives by Cortot, Argerich, Pogorelich, Moravec, Freire, Kissin, Sokolov, Arrau, Perahia, Rubinstein, and Ashkenazy.

Pollini here gives my personal favorite reading of the 24 Preludes. There are of course many other top notch versions, such as those by Ashkenazy, Argerich and Perahia; and with such endless competition, in the final analysis it becomes largely a matter of personal taste. Pollini, I think, holds his own very nicely after nearly 35 years (the recording sessions date from June and July, 1974). IMO this is also Pollini's finest Chopin playing on the DG label, and perhaps his best overall DG recording. Unlike his more famous recording of the 24 Etudes, you will hear greater coloristic variety here. He gets greater warmth from his engineers than in the somewhat hammery sonics of the Etudes recording (part of the reason, I believe, why that CD is a turn off for some.) Here is "early Pollini" at its best: a natural, effortless purity pervades his playing, with miking that captures his first class sound, unlike the murkier perspective of many of his recent recordings. One may not find in this reading the drama of an Argerich, or the same degree of poetic freedom found in so many other Chopin discs. But in his own searching and meditative way, there emerges from this disc pointed insights and subtle poetic twists, all delivered with an uncanny intelligence I find unique among recordings of the Preludes. If you're used to the more austere, tonally less interesting Pollini of today, this disc is well worth trying. At 36:18, it's rather skimpy, but one of the few cases where the quality more than makes up for the quantity.

Pollini took time off after his spectacular early success to mature as a musician, and when he returned to concertizing around the time he made this classic recording of the 24 Preludes (1975), he had achieved a combinaiton of fire and ice, intelligence and passion, that has propelled his career ever since. These are eminently aristocratic readings, yet under the controlled surface one hears tantalizing hints of anger, melancholy, and ecstasy--Pollini's secret is to hold the entire Romantic arsenal at his command and then hide it from sight (making him the anti-Horowitz).

DG's sound is a bit wooden and boxy, which deprives us of the sensual quality of the piano. That's the only flaw to be found in this utterly mesmerizing recital. As other reviewers have pointed out, what sets this set of Preludes apart is that Pollini turns these miniatures into a single work that holds one's fascination from first to last.

This album of the Op. 28 is among the very best of this set of Preludes I have ever heard.
There is simply no such thing as 'mannerisms' in Pollini's playing. Absolutely no nonsense but music.
Chopin is a composer all too often 'abused' by interpretors because he is so lyrical and so 'fluid'. It is indeed comforting to find an interpretor in Chopin in the league of Maurizio Pollini. Since the time of Artur Rubinstein, whose Chopin is among the most humane ever heard, Pollini offers another version of Chopin in authenticity and heart-rending captivation in terms of human touches and sheer musicality.
The Preludes from Op. 28 are well-illuminated in this recording in multi-facted colours and emotional range. The outstanding ones are too many, and personal favourites come in Nos.15, 16, 19, and 24. Compared to Pollini, Argerich's similar numbers sound mannered, while newbie Blechacz's a bit too willowy and understated. None manages to reach the status of utter conviction as Pollini's here.

This is not an entirely easy review to write. Why is that? Because although acknowledging Pollini has vast pianistic capabilities, I belong to those who seldom find he has been able to channel them into rewarding musical ends. Pollini's 1972 Prokofiev Seventh and Stravinsky Petrushka Movements doubtlessly belong to my short list of most brilliantly executed piano playing. Unfortunately, instead of exploiting this repertoire to his advantage (e.g. in Bartok, Messiaen or Ligeti), Pollini has devoted most of his career to the (somewhat augmenting the term) Romantics, stretching from Beethoven to Debussy. More often than not, the results to my ears can to be likened to technically immaculate but musically cool observations.

This disc of Chopin Preludes, together with the Etudes disc (Chopin: Etudes), serves as a model example: the G major and D major--brilliant if just plain cold; the F-sharp minor--harsh rather than dramatic or passionate; the E major--certainly not very beautiful in tone; the C-sharp minor and G-sharp minor--like being observed rather than performed; the F-sharp major and A-flat major--just compare with Ohlsson and you will know the difference when it comes to real beauty; the E-flat minor--again harsh and bangy; the B-flat minor--surely brilliant but not in the Argerich or Pogorelich sense that you get emotionally swept away; the E-flat major--well, I'm just left indifferent (Pogorelich is priceless here!); the B-flat major--along the same lines, this is not very plastic playing; lastly the D minor--a lot of loud notes but little of dynamically dramatic sweep.

To sum up: brilliant indeed, no nonsense or fuzz, musically coolly detached, alarmingly harsh and inelastic tone production (alas, further emphasised by DG's overly fierce and cold recording quality). My recommendations for, respectively, fiery and sparkling, celestially beautiful, and uniquely individual and memorable Preludes safely remain with Argerich, Ohlsson and Pogorelich.

Perfect playing. No more, no less.

Mr. Pollini is an excellent technician and is certainly in his element with the likes of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, as his fabulous recording of Petrushka and the Sonata No. 7 amply testify. His Chopin, however, is quite another matter. Although I detect a significant improvement in his ability to capture something of the soul of the music of Chopin since his utterly vapid 1972 recording of the Etudes, there are more than a few artists around who manage quite well to convey to the listener more than just the notes. Among these are the well known Martha Argerich, whose playing, while wildly passionate even to the point of occasionaly sounding out of control, is nevertheless quite musical and full of character. Among the less well known we must make mention of Juana Zayas. Her rendition (Music & Arts CD1006) possesses all the technique of Pollini, the passion of Argerich, and the controlled flexibility of Ignaz Friedman. Next to her, even this relatively recent recording of Pollini leaves much to be desired.

this is an excellent recording, I believe in l975, of Pollini.