Search - Frederic Chopin, Garrick Ohlsson :: Chopin: Complete Piano Works Vol 13 - Chamber Works

CHOPIN OF THE CHAMBER

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 02/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Garrick Ohlsson's exceptional traversal of Chopin's complete piano works for Arabesque concludes with this well-filled recording of the composer's rather sadly neglected chamber music and, not for nothing, as they say, at an optimum time to fill the void beautifully. There is no skimping here on the range of compositions--- from the earliest, tuneful and charming Introduction and Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3 (1829), with its deliriously delicious piano runs and bouncing cello, and the more familiar romantic, dark, brooding Op. 8 Piano Trio (1829), with its songful and sad slow movement, through the fanciful Grand Duo (1832), with its mock gravitas and humor, and ultimately to the Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 65 (1847), with its daring originality and variegated emotional scope. There is no skimping on talent or vision, either. What an extraordinary thing it is to hear these works performed afresh by artists so in touch with Chopin's muse, so intuitively gifted and selfless, and so utterly musical. It takes one's breath completely away.



[Running time: 76:15]"