Chopin: Complete Piano Concertos

A happier combination of poetry and virtuosity is hardly imaginable: the 20-year-old Frédéric Chopin had composed the two concertos still in Warsaw for his much-praised debut in Paris. And Christian Zacharias knows how to do justice to the intimate and extroverted moments of this music like no other. In the "Preziosa" series from MDG, Chopin's piano concertos have been reissued, remixed and carefully mastered, and now available for the first time on Super Audio CD – for a typically MDG sound experience that gives you a good feeling from head to toe. That the recording from 2003 still sounds as fresh as on the first day is not only thanks to the phenomenal performance of the artists, but also to the care and precision with which the recording was made. As always with Preziosa, label boss Werner Dabringhaus provides fascinating and entertaining insights into the creative process. The artists can fully immerse themselves in the music, which is palpable from the first to the last note. Particularly touching: the personal moments in the slow middle sections radiate an intimacy that touches the heart directly, including the unfulfilled romance of a "dream in a beautiful, moonlit spring night"... Christian Zacharias was chief conductor in Lausanne for many years; the recording of the Chopin concertos is one of the highlights of an extremely fruitful collaboration. The way the orchestra makes room on the podium for the soloists is a pure delight: a collaboration that brings pure pleasure!

Reviews

"(++++) Absolutely recommended. Sometimes something close to your heart can mean as much work as love. This seems to be the case with these recordings of Chopin's piano concertos with Christian Zacharias – as evidenced by the extraordinarily fascinating and informative commentary by Werner Dabringhaus. These recordings date from 2003 (Concerto No. 2) and 2004 (Concerto No. 1) and are now being released on MDG Preziosa, a kind of 'archive' label within the company. Anyone who thinks classical recordings are mainly about placing microphones and playing with a few knobs or volume and balance controls here and there, after which the musicians can simply do their thing, is convinced otherwise by Dabringhaus' description of the complexity of these specific recordings. It covers everything, from the impossibility of using the air conditioning in the control room to the need to arrange the instruments differently to accurately capture the sound in a theater hall that was not designed for orchestral performances – and all this, after the recording location initially could not be found due to inaccurate map data. Dabringhaus' memories form a well-told story about events that in hindsight are amusing and memorable... They offer a broader context than listeners usually get to understand how a particular recording came about that might otherwise not have been worth the effort. Of course, none of this would be of great importance if it was not worthwhile musically to remaster the performances... for release in SACD format. Fortunately, Christian Zacharias' sense of Chopin, both as a pianist and conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, makes this edition a very worthwhile experience that requires no prior knowledge of its creation history from the audience in order to immerse them deeply in the high-quality interpretations." (transcentury.blogspot.com) "Beside the piano concertos of Schumann and Brahms, those of Frédéric Chopin certainly rank among the most performed in the concert halls of this country. There are countless recordings, which often differ only minimally from one another. What makes these recordings, made more than twenty years ago, stand out from the rest is especially the translation of what Robert Schumann probably would have described as 'poetic' and what manifests itself in these two early works by Chopin, especially in the slow middle sections. For while the outer movements were conceived in no small part as virtuosic show pieces, the two Larghetti are much more intimate and sonically more subtle in nature. And it is precisely at this point that the great empathy and dynamic refinement of Christian Zacharias' playing comes to the fore. He lets this 'poetic idea' shine and at the same time makes the piano sing. One would always want to hear Chopin as colorfully, sensitively and sonically as finely nuanced as this." (Klassik Festival) Stereoplay 07/05: "The unmistakable pleasure in playing is expressed directly in elegance and equally meaningful as beautiful phrasing; the delicate articulation and fine sonority are entirely aimed at bringing the music to sound." "Chopin's piano concertos are the perfect fusion of virtuosity and deep expression. In this recording, Christian Zacharias brings every intimate and exuberant moment to life with unparalleled sensitivity. Listeners are enchanted by the lyrical depth and poetic nuances of every movement. Zacharias' years of collaboration with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne comes fully into its own in these recordings. The orchestra provides attentive, finely tuned accompaniment that does justice to the pianist's interpretation. This synergy transforms every passage into a lively, emotionally compelling musical dialogue." (HRAudio.net)