Customer Reviews

Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 / 4 Nocturnes / Scherzo No. 2 ~ Pletnev

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Amazon shows three versions of this CD recorded in 1988, but all of its incarnations are out of print. None seemed to attract much attention, but this recital is one of the most individual and arresting from the past twenty years. In a review of it, the Gramophone drew a line in the sand: "The performances . . . remain as superb and audacious as ever. Love them or hate them, you will never--not for a minute, not for a second--remain indifferent." Rousing words, even if customers and reviewers here seem to maintain indifference rather well.

The core of the recital is a highly personal reading of the Sonata No. 2, where the young Pletnev displays more natural flow and exuberance than in his Sonata No. 3 recorded roughly a decade later for DG. As he matured, he seemed less willing to unleash his world-class technique to stir the blood. For its continuous build of emotion, I'd rank Pletnev's playing of the funeral march at the top of modern versions. It is just as commanding but more moving than Kissin's or Pollini's. There is an emphasis throughout on power and strength. Five selected Nocturnes occupy much of the remaining time, and in these woe definitely glimpse where Pletnev was going; they are restrained and nuanced, with a good deal of personal touch in Pletnev's self-reflective manner. Listeners who want a performer to let the music speak for itself (I am definitely not one of them) will not be happy. I had my impatient moments, much preferring the naturalness of Nelson Freire in this music, but Pletnev's imagination is always at work, and it speaks of his thorough musicality. The two remaining works, the Barcarolle and Scherzo no. 2, tend toward the same pole as the Nocturnes, being gentler and more thoughtful than the way Kissin or Hotowitz treats them, in the virtuoso manner. There's enough personality, however, that you'd never mistake the pianist as Rubinstein, who for many people set the standard for "normal" or "classic" Chopin.

Since I am by no means very interested in normal or classic, this was a delightful and engrossing CD -- and, it should be said, a better first buy than Pletnev's follow-up on DG.

One day many years ago I chanced upon this performance of the Sonata coming over my car radio and was so arrested I pulled over to the side of the road to finish. The first two movements are filled with fire and romantic ardour. Then, at the end of the Funeral March Pletnev strikes a strange, muffled, chord...and up from that chord rises clouds of notes, uncanny, unlike any performance of this Finale I have heard. It's strange, fascinating, and when the last chord explodes like a hammer out of the fog you are left shaken...and deeply moved by the entire experience. The other performances are all beautiful...there are eccentricities to be sure, but this recording went beyond Pletnev's earlier recordings in heralding a real poet. It has been in and out of print several times. If you love the 2nd Chopin Sonata, by all means add this unusual but wonderful rendition to your collection while you can.