No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: CHOPIN,F.
Title: POLONAISES
Street Release Date: 05/12/1998
CD Reviews
An eagle's perspective
sviatoslavrichter | Bergen, Norway | 09/23/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"On this CD, Pollini shows his class as not one of the best, but the best Chopin-interpreter of our time. Far too often, Chopin's music is played in the background, with dimmed lights, moonlight. Pollini shows us how it is to be done. He uses the sun itself as source of light, and his eyes for the music are like those of an eagle. From a great altitude he shows us the greater picture. Poland's great musical poet was forced to live in Paris during the war with the Russians. During this stay, he composed some of the most amazing national romantic pieces of his life. My personal favourites on this CD are the three last polonaises, nr. 5, 6 an 7 on the disc. One can sense his anger towards the russians as well as his love for Poland, all with the magical perspective of the eagle. An eagle dos not only see the greater picture, also all the details. Nothing is hidden. Pollini does this better than anyone else. Other CDs of the same class are Pollini's edition of Chopin's etudes and his copy of Chopin's 2nd and 3rd sonatas."
Exceptional intensity
Cheese Messiah | UK | 01/06/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I could not disagree with the opinion of 'a music fan' (see below) more. Unlike, say, the mazurkas, which must be played a clear sense of their unlying dance rhythms, or even the composer's own earlier works in this genre, Chopin's 7 mature Polonaises are epic pianistic tone-poems expressing his Polish nationalism. The 4 minor key polonaises in particular have a demonic ferocity which Pollini makes the most of. His playing of the second Polonaise in Eb minor, with his very rhythmically free opening, is one of the most compelling things I have ever heard. The fourth in c-minor is equally darkly intense.
The two famous major key polonaises are given mighty readings too. Highly recommended."
Brittle, tense readings, best taken one at a time
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/11/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Pollini views the seven mature Polonaises of Chopin as militant works expressive of Polish fire and pride. I applaud that, but to hear all of them in a row, each played with brittle, aloof fierceness, is taxing.
Things are not helped by DG's unpleasantly clangy piano sound. We are inside the lid, and there are moments when the head-bashing becomes intolerable for any long stretch. I would also say that in the two famous major-key Polonaises, the "Heroic" and "Military," Pollini oculd have relented and given us a sense of exuberance without so much percussive insistence. I'm am a huge fan, but this 1976 release is my least favorite Pollini recital."
Exceptional Chopin
James Peyton | columbia, sc United States | 07/31/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Pollini's disc of Chopin's polonaises has appeared in Grammophone's and Penguin's cd guides as the definitive recording of these narratives of Polish history, culture, and emotion. In response to a writer's claim that Pollini's tempi varies too much to accompany dancers, I doubt seriously that Chopin envisioned anyone actually doing so to a performance of these pieces. They are much too complex for that purpose. What Pollini offers here is his superlative technique and intense, emphatic, and yes, analytical interpretations. His playing of the eb minor and c minor polonaises is incredibly atmospheric in their ominous openings, but become intense psychological studies which Pollini relates with "magesterial command" (Penguin Guide). Most critics and musicians place the f# minor polonaise as the most demanding interpretavily as well as technically. I cannot say anything other that the pianist is mesmerizing and astounding. One can same the same of his playing of the Ab, the most famous of these pieces. I have lived with this recording for some 20+ years and have studied/played the first four polonaises in undergrad and graduate school and still hear this as a timeless account of these pieces. At times, I do wish Deutsche Grammophon had given him a warmer sound; as with other Pollini recordings, the microphones are close...perhaps too much so. Nevertheless, this is a superlative account of Chopin's polonaises, recollections, musings, and homages to his homeland."
A referential collection.
A. F. S. Mui | HK | 08/12/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Okay, there are people who think that the entire collection here is laborous to the ears.
That has more to do with the compositions themselves, as well as the sound engineering than with the performances.
The No. 6 Polonaise Op. 53 was recorded on EMI's 1968 recording too. Compare the sound engineering, and an immediate difference surfaces.
As to the performances themselve, actually in this DG collection Pollini opted for a slightly slower and more expansive tempo than in the 1968 EMI recording. But the sound there was much cleaner, much less fuss over the 'vibrato' as does in this DG recording.
While the more vibrant sound in the pianoforte works well in many piano pieces, for an entire collection of heroic outbursts as in Chopin's entire set of Polonaises, arguably some tender ears would find them tiring.
As for the interpretation and performances, I find absolutely nothing in them to fault. Long gone are the salon days for Chopin's masterpieces.
If people long for those willowy stuff, turn to Lang Lang or Yundi Li for contemproary 'fulfilment'.
For the best modern compilation of an entire disc of Chopin Polonaises, this set definitely is of full referential value."
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1