Search - Alice Sara Ott :: Chopin: Complete Waltzes

Ott plays the Chopin Waltzes: Hope you've got a strong stoma

Problembär | Los Angeles, California, USA | 04/06/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"So I'm not even going to lie to you about this. Yeah, I was pretty impressed with Alice Sara Ott's Liszt Transcendental Etudes, her debut on disc. She wasn't on the Arrau/Gekic/Cziffra level, but she was good. But the main reason I ended up buying this disc is... because as far as looks go, I find her to be the bee's knees. Yes, dear reader--sheer animal desire drove me to buy the disc at hand. I was sitting on the proverbial fence about buying this disc, but her looks won me over. Thank you DG marketing team! But don't stop and just admire her pretty pic in her waify, hipster Red Riding Hood garb on the cover. Take a look inside the booklet and you'll find plenty more glamour shots of Ms. Ott and a scant, puff "interview" that does insult to the notion of "liner notes." A rambling, cutesy little thing that tells you nothing about Chopin and makes Ott sound like a clueless ditz. But she is a cutie, no doubt about it. But what of this recital? Well...



I own at least some 20 to 30-odd Chopin waltz recitals. This may be one of the very worst I've ever heard from a major artist and label. Had you never heard what these pieces were called, you'd hardly believe they were waltzes as they barely dance at all. Galumph about is more like it. Ott's perverse rubato and leaden tone must be heard to be believed. I'm not at all against a more romantic approach to these gems. Cortot's recital is numbered among my favorites. But what sounds magical and sparkling in Cortot's hands sounds lumbering and mannered here. The famous opening fanfare of the E-flat waltz sounds sounds as if the waltzers at this particular salon imbibed the champagne and absinthe a bit too generously. Another pirouette and these dancers will spin themselves away into a drunken stupor. Yes, not everything is so bad. She does a fine stab at the A minor waltz. But the highpoints, modest as they are, cannot compensate for this recital's general mediocrity. A portentious ritardando and a sudden accelerando every few bars does not romantic pianism a la grand manière make. After listening to all this herky jerky, stop-and-go routine, I was fumbling around my medicine cabinet for some Alka-Seltzer to stave off the motion sickness.



As I said, Chopin waltz recitals can be found a-plenty. My personal favorites are Anda, Anievas, Lipatti, Cortot, Tharaud, Darré, Brailowsky, and Rubinstein's 1950's era set. You'll have your own favorites, I'm sure. Whatever they are, stick to those ones and don't bother with Ott. You're better off tossing this turkey aside. Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Poetic chopin excellently played and recorded

Ivor E. Zetler | Sydney Australia | 01/27/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Alice Sara Ott was born in Munich in 1988 and is said to have a strong following in Europe and Japan. In this recital she plays all the 19 Chopin waltzes; this includes some youthful works that are of minor interest. I am pleased to report that Ms Ott gives excellent renditions of these compositions. Her technique and phrasing are immaculate and her playing is thoughtful, poetic and truthful to the spirit of the music. She additionally brings an appropriate brio to the waltzes when required. This version has the advantage of having a warm, detailed and exceptionally realistic recorded sound.



There have been two other recent issues of the Chopin Waltzes; I found that the Stephen Bishop Kovacevic performance failed to hold my interest and snippets of the Fliter/EMI that I have heard revealed inferior sound compared with Ott's. Going back to the venerable Lipatti and Rubinstein versions one encounters a world of natural, idiomatic elegance that seems to elude modern pianists. Nevertheless, I can recommend Alice Sara Ott's new DG issue for those seeking a modern reading of the waltzes and await her further recordings with interest."

Odd Chopin from Ott

Hank Drake | Cleveland, OH United States | 06/12/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I write this review knowing I'll get many "unhelpful" votes, and at the risk of coming off like a grumpy old man. But, here goes.



What the heck has happened to Deutsche Grammophon? There was a time when DG was considered the sui generis of Classical labels, with an artist roster than ran the gamut from Bernstein to Karajan and Horowitz to Pollini. Now, their fortunes have sunk to the degree that even Lang Lang (after forcing Yundi Li from the label) has jumped ship for the crossover label, Sony.



I'd never heard of Alice Sara Ott before encountering this recording, despite my keen interest in piano performance. Her sole claim to fame is winning First Prize at a very minor piano competition in 2004. Her technique is serviceable to the extent that she can play the notes evenly, and control a crescendo or diminuendo with reasonable accuracy.



In the "Golden Age", one could easily tell a pianist by his/her individual sound and approach to the music. By the latter half of the 20th Century, that was less & less the case, as the purist approach and interpretive anonymity became fetishized. Now, the pendulum has swung back - and how. There is a growing trend in Classical music performance and Ms. Ott is part of it: with the endless duplication of recorded repertoire, musicians are becoming desperate to distinguish themselves from their peers. It seems musicians are offering increasingly bizarre interpretations not for personal expression, but to be different for the sake of being different.



Take, for example, Ms. Ott's performance of the Waltz in A-flat, Op. 42 (the so-called "Two-Four" waltz): the charm of this piece rests on the conflict between the melody, which is shaped as if it were in 2/4 time, and the accompaniment, which is clearly in ¾ time (the actual notation of the waltz is in ¾ time, of course). If this waltz were an opera aria, it would depict a husband and wife bickering with each other. Ott throws rubato all over the place and constantly changes tempo, so that the point of the piece is lost. Ott fusses with the music far more than, say, Rachmaninoff would have, and in a totally inorganic way which is poles apart from the inner-logic of the late-Romantic generation.



Clearly, Ms. Ott understands neither Chopin nor Romantic performance practice. Believe it or not, there were rules during the Romantic era. One such rule was to always begin a piece in a direct manner, so that rubato and other expressive devices would be effective when employed later in the work. In other words, rubato is an effect, not a constant.



DG's recorded sound is nothing to write home about, either. It manages to be both glaring and distant at the same time. I suspect the piano was recorded close up with artificial reverb laid on thick in post-production, and the high frequencies sound attenuated.



Recommended complete set:

Chopin: Complete Waltzes Ohlsson



Recommended sets without juvenilia:

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 29 Rubinstein's Mono set

Chopin: Waltzes; Impromptus Rubinstein's Stereo set

Waltzes Lipatti - mono"