BUY IT! This is the Chopin Etude recording to own....
10/28/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm a Chopin Etude addict. I own 12 recordings of the etudes, including recordings by Pollini, Ashkenazy, Cherkassky, Cortot. Based on the enthusiastic recommendation of the International Piano Quarterly (which, I bought only because it featured a comparison of Chopin Etudes recordings) I purchased the Zayas recording.This is the most amazing performance of the etudes i have ever heard. The Zayas recording has technical brilliance, passion, and artistic depth. My only disappointment was that this is a special order CD and you have to wait a few weeks on AMAZON.COM. But this recording is worth the wait"
Truly the greatest version of the Etudes this century!
Kevin Scalzitti | 09/01/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Many readers of International Piano Quarterly may have been taken by surprise when they read Donald Manildi's overview of the Chopin Etudes. For most have probably never heard of pianist Juana Zayas before. Yet Zayas's version, not Ashkenazy's, and certainly not Lortie's, was hailed as the "compelling first choice" of all the Etudes recordings of the century. I think anyone who listens to them will see why. First, Zayas has so mastered the technical difficulties that they seem no longer to exist. Right, so does Pollini. Zayas, moreover, infuses these pieces with masterful phrasing (not so Pollini). In Op. 10, no. 2, for example, she starts out with little to no pedaling (at the faster than usual tempo that she takes, only a superior technician could dispense with the pedal). During the recapitulation, however, rather than repeat the motif exactly the same way (far too many pianists do that), she slows down just a bit and adds pedaling to create a ravishing contrast. Nowhere in the entire cycle does one hear any sentimental lingering over passages, a particularly revolting habit among many pianists these days. Such pianists have reduced the art of phrasing to making Big Statements whereby they seem desirous of conveying the message that they are great pianists, even though in the process they kill whatever it is they are playing. Well, all 24 pieces on this CD are very much alive. As a result, this CD never gets boring, no matter how often one listens to it. In short, Manildi is right. Compare it with any other version to see for yourself."
Zayas-A true Chopin specialist
Kevin Scalzitti | Phoenix, AZ USA | 12/13/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Juana Zayas has an incredible technique and a great sense of musicality. Her recording of the Chopin Etudes are masterful in that she can take these wonderful pieces and bring out inner voicing, color, and shape to these often-played, technically challenging pieces. I also own several different recordings of the Etudes and by far, she is the finest. Well recommended by many in the piano circuit. Get it!"
A RARE BLEND OF TECHNICAL PROWESS AND MUSICAL VITALITY.
08/16/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When a person purchases a recording, his decision is often (unconsciously) based on the mistaken notion that the music market is quality driven. Unfortunately, what may well be an excellent recording is usually ignored by the major record companies because the artist is unknown and therefore not expected to sell well. Even when the most authoritative critics are consulted, it seems to take a great deal more to persuade stores like Tower Records or Barnes & Noble to make such a recording readily available to their customers. This recording of the Chopin Etudes by Juana Zayas is just such an example. It has received rave reviews from the likes of Harold Schonberg and Donald Manildi, the latter going so far as to declare it to be a "compelling first choice" among ALL the recordings made of the Etudes this century (International Piano Quarterly, Summer 1999). I could not agree more. Why is this recording better than all the rest? Because Ms. Zayas uses her formidable technique to convey the beauty inherent in the music rather than to convince the listener that she can play all the notes. Make no mistake about it: these etudes, being etudes, cannot be played well without the pianist's having acquired many technical skills. Unlike most etudes, however, Chopin's demand much more of the pianist: a mastery of phrasing, a sense of balance, wit, and drama. Ms. Zayas seems to have all these in abundance. Listeners familiar with the Etudes, even those who have been long devoted to a favorite interpreter, will be wonderstruck and, I daresay, sorely tempted to transfer their fidelity to her. Those not acquainted with the Etudes need only compare Ms. Zayas with any other pianist to be convinced that they have made the right choice. In the words of Schonberg, therefore, "put your money on Zayas" (American Record Guide J/A 1998) . . . and order this CD (to say nothing of her other recordings) here and now from Amazon.com."
Who wants to listen to ALL the Chopin etudes??? maybe YOU do
Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 09/16/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you haven't yet heard of sensational Pianist Juana Zayas, finish reading this review, then go immediately to her internet web site: juanazayas.com. Meanwhile, even without background information, you can fast click on whatever shopping site(s) you favor to get her Chopin CD recordings. The completed etudes is the topic here. The preludes and sonatas 2-3 are also available. Have you relished the old-school, golden-age-of-pianism recordings by such luminaries as Josef Lhevinne, Ignaz Friedman, Alfred Cortot? Have you found it hard to listen to their recordings transferred from the last century's 78 rpm disc masters, without heartily lamenting the primitive aspects of sound technology at that time? Now, suddenly, ...well not so suddenly it turns out: Ms. Zayas has been living in the west for 30 years, raising her 3 sons, practising like a demon, and expanding her repertoire so that when she could eventually return to the concert stage (i.e., NOW, HERE); she would have depth and breadth of repetoire... now suddenly you can hear Chopin played by someone with heart, mind, fingers, and ... most amazing of all, an elusive quality of open, soulful simplicity. Hers is a most enduring yet special kind of Chopin: she manages to achieve the balance, the poise we associate with Artur Rubinstein's later stereo Chopin recordings, melded intimately with the her own fire and Cuban intellect. Beyond surface glitter, beyond customary wowie-zowie forms of piano mastery, we burn with her in this music, if we let ourselves. I think if you go to one of her concerts, you will notice lots of other very good pianists sitting in the audience, ears wide open, maybe even taking notes. Yes, I know you are thinking: There is no dearth of available Chopin recordings. Yes, I know you are thinking, I don't want to listen to ALL of the etudes, or ALL of the preludes. O posh, O piddle, O fiddlestix. If you have wondered what the etudes/preludes might sound like, played all together as music first and etudes or preludes second; these performances will inspire your confidence. Indeed, I wager that performances by Juana Zayas will quickly become necessary to you. So, stop reading right now, get one of these recordings and return to the sort of Chopin that really does nourish a listener's intangible, peripatetic humanity. Join the club of people who will admit to being astounded that such a lady should be alive in our times to share her unique, even atavistic genius with us. I think the shades of old Cortot, old Friedman, old Lhevinne .... many other old masters... are smiling, perhaps. Chopin himself may even be smiling. I know I am smiling because I am listening to Ms. Zayas play Chopin etudes, right now, as I write this review."
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1
