Search - Frederic Chopin, Abdel Rahman El Bacha :: Chopin: Int�©grale de l'oeuvre pour piano seul (Box Set)

El Bacha: Virile Chopin with an almost orchestral sonority

Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 02/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Though he is a laureate of the prestigious Queen Elizabeth competition, El Bacha is quite unknown in the United States, since he plays mostly on the European continent, if at all. The availability of this complete ... and the set is complete, indeed, including juvenelia that many sets see fit to omit in favor of the established recital repertoire .... is something of a surprise, then. Having already enjoyed El Bacha in the piano concertos, it was only natural that my curiosity extended to this recorded library of solo piano music.Technically, El Bacha need yield to no one. Yet as you get deeper and deeper into the set, matters beyond technical superiority begin to affect you, palpably. The basic concept this performer has of Chopin is .... well, let's use the word, orchestral. Especially as the textures of larger works grow dense, and voices gather together, the sonority of the piano seems like a gathering of musical voices, rather than simply a single instrument. The concept is rather consistently glorious, although to those used to an emphasis on the intimate Chopin, this wider world of inflection may seem like too much of a good thing. The tone may be heroic, melancholy, lyrical ... but El Bacha always observes a certain masculinity which disavows any hint of salon-music swooning at the feet of Liszt.Since the pieces are played, more or less in the chronological order in which Chopin wrote them, you get a very different view of the music's width and breadth. A genre-oriented collection has become the norm, although if memory serves, the Ashkenazy set was released in chronological order on vinyl before it was gathered into more genred groupings for CD. This alternate view lets us see and hear more, how Chopin lives and breathes, almost on a seasonal cycle. Given the background constants of the mazurkas and the nocturnes, with waltzes sprinkled in, among; the larger works stand out like great, old trees in the burgeoning musical forest. Sometimes a calm, an equanimity, seems to hold sway, even while the music is growing more lively, swirling in glinting lights up the keyboard, higher and higher. Is this simply El Bacha? Or a glimpse into an aspect of Chopin too easily neglected in those hyper-Romantic, stop and go renditions? Even the melancholy sometimes seems like that of the exile who has accepted his lot, albeit not with unmixed emotions.Well, if you were wondering about this complete edition, my recommendation is: buy it. It offers a valid view of Chopin's musical genius, less neurotic than many. Somehow I have a hunch this view will wear better over the long run. Yes, I still want to hear the Horowitz approach, from time to time, so full of heightened drama and always nervy. But that works especially for those few pieces that Horowitz managed to record, some of them again and again, as his views changed.This set is like a hearth to come home to, in between other Romantic adventures and ramblings. It has made its home squarely in the deep woods, and in that locale, things can grow mysterious, passing wonderful, and surprisingly sung away in unworldly stillness. Crickets come out in the evening to chirp in the woods, and yet all remains centered, poised, still until the moon is finally welcomed in deepening darkness.This set tends to have that kind of effect, off the beaten paths of obvious Chopin playing, without seeming in the least eccentric... until you realize how much you have forgotten, just for those few minutes, all the regular keystone cops bustle of your daily life.Highly recommended. Five stars."