Search - Frederic Chopin :: Chopin: Nocturnes

Great Music, Great Transcriptions, Mediocre Performance

Sor_Fingers | Boulder, CO USA | 12/26/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Hearing Chopin on the Guitar is quite an enjoyable experience. Philip Hii has provided a recording with perhaps the best transcripitons of Chopin's Nocturnes for the guitar. The pieces work very well on the guitar, sound beautiful and really pay a lot of attention to preserving the textures and details of the original piano scores. Hii's scholarship in transfering the nocturne's from the piano to the guitar shows discipline and creativity. There is one problem with this recording, however. Unfortunately Hii's scholarship does not equal his performance chops. It's really a shame that Hii's playing really suffers. His attack is very sloppy. There is lots of noise that does not come from a vibrating guitar string. There's fret noise, string noise and nail noise. His attack in general is just very naily. Furthermore, his intonation is not always right on. It's really a shame that these faults are so obvious on this recording. They really distract from the beauty of the music. Most unfortunately, it's hard to enjoy such beautiful music when it's not performed well. Hii's wonderful transcription work doesn't make up for his undesirable tone. It's worth a listen to hear the marvelous transcriptions, but Hii's playing is far from exceptional."

Haunting music

Fica | Texas | 02/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This cd has a haunting quality to the playing which struck at one's inner cord with its lovely flowing gentle quality. One could simply sit back and let the notes run through one's being, vibrating with it, as the notes hits softly, gently or vibrantly, sweeping the listener along its tide, going from gentle to vibrant, from gentle to exciting. I love the fast strumming and wonder at how a guitar could effect all that. It is a masterpiece, a stroke of genius transcribing something like Chopin from piano to guitar."