Search - Frederic Chopin, Vladimir Ashkenazy :: Chopin: Nocturnes, 4 Ballades

Nice Set of Nocturnes

James | Seattle | 06/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In my opinion, Chopin's Nocturnes and Ballades are some of the most beautiful repertoire ever written for the piano, and it doesn't necessarily matter who is playing them, so long as they are Chopin. Yes, I agree that pieces can be performed badly, and this hinders their quality significantly, but anyone who is a dedicated enough musician to have been recorded is obviously capable of performing the repertoire. There is no doubt that Ashkenazy is an incredible pianist, with great technique and versatility. Anyone could nitpick about the nuances of his playing, criticizing certain aspects or welcoming others. The obvious truth is that everyone's preferences and opinions are different, and therefore, there is no way that everyone could possibly be pleased by any one object. This is why you will find various negative reviews scattered among the praise, usuallytaking a shot at Ashkenazy's "stiff" or "emotionless" interpretations.



I find that, as a whole, this set of nocturnes is one of the best available for purchase. When I say best, I mean best for the value, quality of recording, completeness, and quality of playing. There may be other performers whose recordings I like a tiny bit more on some cases (particularly the C Minor Nocturne 48/1) but that doesn't bring down the quality of this set. The facts are, Ashkenazy is a perfectionist, like any other recorded pianist, and therefore there are no mistakes in his playing, the tempi and dynamics are well-thought out, as he has studied these pieces extensively, and the emotions are as ever-present as one could hope, for Ashkenazy has been performing for many years in concert settings, and piano is obviously the focal point of his life.



This is the only set I have found available at such a price which includes the Nocturnes and Ballades. Both cd's contain over 70 minutes of material, which is incredible for the price. As I said before, the recording quality is crisp, without the crackle and pop of some earlier recordings (Rubinstein) or the heavy breathing of others (Arrau). Criticisms and qualms about individual nocturnes aside, (and they are there) this is still one of the best sets around. There are many more good things to say about Ashkenazy's playing than bad ones, in my opinion. If you are expecting these interpetations to sound overly conservative, this is not the case. Ashkenazy is infamous for being very faithful to the score, which I think is very true about these nocturnes. Where rubato is indicated, he uses rubato. Where the score says accelerando, Ashkenazy plays faster. The dynamics and tempi are usually identical to the urtext editions. In this sense, Ashkenazy is conservative, because he does not show his own artistica style possibly as much as some others, but he is very respectful of Chopin, and is most concerned with playing these pieces the way the composer intended. In my opinion, this is superemly important and commendable. This is a great package of Nocturnes and Ballades, and Ashkenazy is reknowned for a reason."

Beautiful music!

harmony | nowhere | 07/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ashkenazy is a talented and expressive musician. He brings feeling and life to Chopin's timeless classics. The nocturnes (love songs) can be enjoyed by both the accomplished pianist and the novice listener. This is some of the finest music ever written, expertly performed."

Amazing

Matt Pankratz | 02/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are great! Ashkenazy is definentley one of the great Chopin interpreters. All of the people who say that Ashkenazy has no emotion in his playing are wrong! Ashkenazy has a beautiful tone in his playing. His interpretations are also great. He is the thinking man's pianist. If you don't understand what I am saying, I am saying that he plays with perfect technique and he thinks the piece through intellegently and he dosen't go for the big flash while playing. This might be one ofthe reasons why people say he is emotionless. He still has emotion even if he dosen't do that thing where you sway while playing and you move way to much (that is a stupid thing to do because it dosen't help and it can hurt your technique while playing). The only person who has played Chopin better than Ashkenazy is Emanuel Ax (I am not saying that Rubinstein and Horowitz etc. are worse than Ashkenazy, they are just as good, but they all are different. Emanuel Ax has the most beautiful tone I have ever heard. Sadly not many Ax recordings exist anymore. Ashkenazy plays the Nocturnes beautifully especially F minor. Chopin plays the Ballades with the same beauty heard in the Nocturnes and (once again) the F minor ballade (no. 4) is one of, if not the best recording I have ever heard. So to summarize Ashkenazy does have a beautiful tone and an intellegent approach to Chopin, so this is a great buy!"