Frederic Chopin John Barbirolli Alfred Cortot - Chopin Oeuvres pour Piano (141 tracks) +Album Reviews

A must for both Chopin lovers and piano enthusiasts

Charles R. Hall Jr. | 10/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This box set, something very difficult to find in the real world, is a must(!) for anyone interested, historically speaking, in how these works should sound along with their evolution from the early 1900's to the present. Why is Cortot qualified for this role? His teacher was Louis Dermier, one of Chopin's last pupils and supposed one of his favourites. This means Cortot is in fact the grandson of the Chopin technique, learning from one who was directly intructed how to play these works. Beyond that, he is one of the most remarkable pianists of his or any time, often criticized from an overextensive rubato, but this is the essence of Cortot. He may be the most informed pianist of all time, not only dissecting the notes on the page, but the mind of the composer and the life at the time that each composition was invented.

Any enthusiast of Chopin must listen to these recordings with an open mind. At first you will shun them, unaccustomed to the way the pieces differ from today, but soon they will grow on you and you hear each piece as if for the first time, and yo realize how far off our modern pianists are from the truth of the music. Most are more tachnically perfect than Cortot, he was often missing or hitting wrong notes, but the emotion behind those notes is what is the real importance of the music, something lost in todays pianists. Someone once said I would rather hear a good pianists wrong notes than a bad pianists right ones. And I cannot think of a more perfect personification of that comment than Cortot. In my mind he ranks as one of the top five pianists of the recording era, along with Hofmann, Richter, Horowitz, Gilels, and Moiseiwitsch. But honestly, I find more enjoyment listening to Cortot than any other single pianist on record, and this cortot box set covers almost three fourths of his Chopin output, so if you enjoy this find his Emi References of the Impromptus, the two great pianists disc are wonderful transfers, the chamber music trio with Thibaudet and Casals, and for the real enthusiast with money, the prades festival contains his last recording which a perfectly flawed rendition of the Third Cello Sonata by Beethoven and a version of Bei Mannern(different than the naxos.)"

Must have!

meiting | New York, NY United States | 07/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This collection includes about 75% of Cortot's Chopin Recordings, which makes it the best value for anyone who doesn't already have these recordings. Several redundant recordings of works provide a glimpse into Cortot's mental makeup, and shows us just how much of his musical ideas change over time. Add to that the fact that most of the recordings are wonderful to listen to, and you have a must have recordings!"

You haven't really heard Chopin if you haven't heard Cortot!

BLee | HK | 09/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, that may well be the case.

Cortot had won open admiration of Schiff, Cziffra, Michelangeli, Arrau, Solti... just to name a few. His pianism and his Chopin included is so incisive, with myriad of hues from coming from his subtle touch. And the poignancy is such that it is pure poetic ecstasy all through.

Talking about this album, despite the fact that Cortot had a long performing and recording career, the real obstacle is the archive sound. In this album we can have almost the best recording possible, with better transfer than most other trade names by far, be it Naxos or Aura, or whatever for the price of something like Naxos!

Note however that there is some grumble that EMI should instead chose his Preludes recorded in the 30s rather than those of the 40s, and EMI shouldn't have chosen his B Minor Sonata of recorded in the 50s when Cortot was declining... But in the latters we have better recordings and they are more bewitching even if slightless less staggering. Likewise, Barbirolli's accompaniment here may not be the most ideal, yet it is so fresh and so alive to say the least. On the whole, the recording and transfer is much better than what we have in Rachmaninov's box set by RCA.

Enormously enjoybale with so much to learn. And for those find the archive sound hard to bear with, do bear in mind that the pianist whom Schiff listen to most is Cortot, and before Cortot, it was Schnabel!"

Why can't today's pianists play Chopin like this?

John Grabowski | USA | 08/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's beyond the scope of this review (not to mention the time I have) to discuss all the works here, or even all of the many highlights. Suffice it to say, as a whole, this is some of the most expressive Chopin playing ever put to wax, shellac, vinyl, magnetic tape, digital tape, flash memory, or anything else. The whole approach to this kind of music was different 80 years ago, when the artists were just one generation removed (and sometimes not even that) from the music they were performing, and grew up steeped in the traditions. Today's pianists learn the affectations of the Romantics at music schools and universities, and impressive as they are, they are just that, affectations. As Miles Davis said once regarding the neoboppers who were imitating the likes of him, you can tell it's a copy. While the two- and three-star idiots below me berate this recording because it's not DDD sound and Cortot drops a note here or there, they are missing the flow of the *music,* the understanding of architecture and drama, the communion between composer, performer and audience. Such attitudes, though, do help me understand why modern piano playing has become so obsessed with being correct that it rarely tries to get beyond that to owning the text, making one's approach to it virtually beyond criticism. So many of today's "virtuosos" are too worried about what the audience and critics will think of a finger-slip that they don't worry about anything beyond pressing down every key as directed by the holy score.

But to hear Cortot launch into the Sonata No. 2, for example, is to enter another realm, one where individual notes don't matter as much as the journey. And in his journey, Cortot plays the most extraordinary, perfectly- (and darkly-) shaded funeral march I've ever heard--just listen to those bass notes. Has anyone ever played it that well since then? Rachmaninoff, in his equally ancient recording, comes close, but since...? Sorry, you modern-day Chopinists, you have a lot of work to do.

Other standouts are the Third Sonata, with an otherworldly slow movement, a truly heroic but never overblown "Heroic" Polonaise Op. 53, and the best set of Etudes I've ever heard. Those who think Cortot had serious technical problems might listen to how well he navigates these incredibly difficult miniatures. I don't see today's virtuosi stepping up to the plate to tackle these works, let alone tackle them without the benefit of splicing and overdubbing. The Preludes are almost as satisfying, though other Chopin specialists--Pogorelich, Moravec, Arrau (the early cycle, not the Philips redo), and others have been highly successful and can give Alfie a run for his money. Some other performances here, such as the F minor Fantasy Op. 49, are superb and blow the competition out of the water. (The great, or at least famous Zimerman sounds particularly feeble in comparison.) Listen to Cortot's pedaling in the repeated ascending phrases of the climax (at 10:20 on the recording) and then the lonely, disembodied hush of the coda. Who plays with this richness of expression today? Now, if a little crackle (actually surface noise is well-suppressed by engineers, maybe a little too much) is keeping you from enjoying such extraordinary and unique sounds in the piano literature, then you deserve Lang-Lang.

The Ballades--some of my favorite Chopin--are well-done here, but even better-served on a Music & Arts disc, "Cortot Plays Chopin, the Legendary 1925 - 1929 Recordings," that unfortunately is out of print. (M&A CD-871...hunt for it used on the web; it's worth the effort.) Still, this set is a gold mine of great Chopin-playing, the sort that died in Europe a long time ago."

Great set from Cortot

Snookie | HUMMELSTOWN, PA USA | 04/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just love this set.

What tasteful use of rubato! What beautiful lilting! The guy can spin a beautiful counter-melody with his left hand - Imagine that!

If one were to purchase this set along with Artur Rubinstein's (now at a steal - RCA Gold Seal) and the box set by Vladimir Ashkenazy (London) you would have all you would need to experience the heart and soul of Chopin.

It is a shame that recordings like these are disappearing from the catalogs.

Snookie

"

Search - Frederic Chopin, John Barbirolli, Alfred Cortot :: Chopin: Oeuvres pour Piano [Piano Works]

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