Chopin: Piano Sonatas #2 & 3, Ballades, Op. 23,38,47 & 52, Scherzi Op. 20, 31, 39 & 54; Cecile Ousset [Original recording remastered]

Frederic Chopin (Artist), Cecile Ousset (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B0000CE7FO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,362 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 2-CD set presents some of Chopin's most beloved masterpieces--the two great Sonatas and the complete Scherzi and Ballades--in splendid performances. Perhaps the most immediately striking characteristic of Cécile Ousset's playing, apart from her consummate mastery of the instrument, is its extraordinary clarity and transparency, no matter how full the texture. She must use the pedal very sparingly. Her passage-work is brilliant, her runs are like chains of flawless pearls, no matter how fast the tempo. Even the Presto Finales of the two sonatas are crystal clear. Every line stands out, and the balance between her hands is perfect. Musically, her most immediately striking characteristic is her uninhibited, surging romanticism. She has the courage to follow the dictates of her heart, pushing forward and pulling back with the ebb and flow of the music; she also freely changes the tempo along with its changing moods, but her transitions are always poised and controlled, and there is plenty of time to enjoy and caress melodic and harmonic details. Above all, she brings out all of Chopin's mercurial emotions, from inward reverie and melancholy, mysteriousness, elfin delicacy, majestic grandeur and solemnity, poetry, ardor, humor, to soaring ecstasy and serene resignation. Unfortunately, she is badly served by the recorded sound, which is harsh, clangorous and tinny; though she obviously commands a large range of colors and nuances, they must be surmised rather than being actually heard. The recordings were originally made in 1987 and 1988, this compilation dates from 2003; surely the beauty of the music and the high quality of the playing deserve better technological results. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Noteworthy Set..., July 15, 2009

By 

Sébastien Melmoth (Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chopin: Piano Sonatas #2 & 3, Ballades, Op. 23,38,47 & 52, Scherzi Op. 20, 31, 39 & 54; Cecile Ousset (Audio CD)

Recordings made in London, 1987. Sound is good.
.
Ousset has a very smooth-fluid technique; her touch is light but stable.
Timing is good overall: she doesn't rush things, nor does she drag.
She has a nice sense also of rhythm and dynamics, contrast and continuity.
In the lento Marche funèbre, for example, Ousset catches very nicely the dreamy lyrical middle section, and she doesn't plod the March (as some do!): this makes for a very pleasing reading.
Ousset has a good vision of Chopin's architectonics.
She plays with excellent rhythm, but without an offensively aggressive attack.
In the No. 4 Scherzo, for example, she gets a nice spring and bounce without being cloyingly impish: a very good balance.
Ousset has good control with the Ballades in neither letting them get too weepy nor maniacally heroic; her reading of the Third Sonata is VERY compelling.

A noteworthy contribution to the Chopin discography.
.
Comparative timings for Chopin's Third Sonata:

Cécile Ousset (1987):
I. [11'48"]
II. [02'43"]
III. [09'34"]
IV. [05'01"]

Maria João Pires (2008):
I. [13'42"]
II. [02'43"]
III. [10'23"]
IV. [05'48"]

Glenn Gould (1970):
I. [10'01"]
II. [02'18"]
III. [08'34"]
IV. [04'58"]

Tamás Vásáry (1963):
I. [08'53"]
II. [02'51"]
III. [09'22"]
IV. [05'09"]

Wilhelm Kempff (1958):
I. [08'51"]
II. [02'40"]
III. [08'32"]
IV. [05'22"]

Cyprien Katsaris (1991):
I. [13'28"]
II. [03'06"]
III. [10'13"]
IV. [05'03"]

Chopin
Glenn Gould Edition: Chopin / Mendelssohn / Scriabin / Prokofiev
Chopin: Piano Works [Etudes - Impromptus - Sonatas - Concertos - Mazurkas - Polonaise - Berceuse]
Wilhelm Kempff plays Chopin
Chopin: The Three Piano Sonatas
.
Chopin: Ballades Nos. 1-4; Scherzos Nos. 1-4
Chopin: 4 Ballades/Barcarolle, Op.60/Fantasie in F
Chopin: 4 Scherzi/Berceuse/Barcarolle
.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sound fine on original, June 27, 2006

By 

HB "HB" (Fort Mill, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chopin: Piano Sonatas #2 & 3, Ballades, Op. 23,38,47 & 52, Scherzi Op. 20, 31, 39 & 54; Cecile Ousset (Audio CD)

I have the original CD of the 3rd Sonata and the Ballades. The sound is great on that CD and like Edith Eisler said, the performances are superb. At the super low price, this double CD is an absolute bargain.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Difficult to review: divergent musical and technical qualities on 2 CD's, October 7, 2011

By 

Bertrand Vermeer (Netherlands, Europe) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chopin: Piano Sonatas #2 & 3, Ballades, Op. 23,38,47 & 52, Scherzi Op. 20, 31, 39 & 54; Cecile Ousset (Audio CD)

Chopins pianosonate 2 and the Scherzi are located on CD I. These recordings were made in 1987, the textbook is not very clear about that.
Cécile Ousset, in my opinion a great pianist, seems to have her bad day. She makes with difficulty her way through Chopins music, I hear no brilliance or sparkling, it was for me difficult to hear all that to the end.
May be Cécile Ousset is a very emotional person (I think she is) who performs mediocre the one day and breathtaking the other.
What a contrast with CD II ! This recording seems to have been made a year later on.
Now I recognise the fantastic artist of, for instance, the second Saint-Saens pianoconcerto of the 1982-recording! Highly concentrated Ousset demonstrates here her intelligent overall-conception of the works she is interpreting. It is as if she has in mind the end of a piece while playing the beginning and vice versa. That's the way music should be performed.
So: for DC I 3 stars, for CD II 5. Result: 4