Search - Frederic Chopin, Armin Jordan, Maria João Pires :: Maria João Pires ~ Chopin - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 · 14 Waltzes

Interesting, idiosyncratic, imperfect

07/13/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Maria-Joao Pires is my favorite pianist. Chopin is my favorite composer. For sentimental reasons connected with my first years in Paris, the waltzes are my favorite compositions. All of that having been said, I must admit to some indecision about these two disks.The waltzes are so crammed onto the second disk that there is scarcely a beat between any two of them. The result is almost one long waltz in 14 or more segments. I say 14 "or more" because Pires plays almost no two segments of any one waltz in identical fashion. Her diverse approaches to repetitions within a given waltz are fascinating: differences in tempo, in tonality, in use of pedal, in mood. In my many listenings, I have been tempted frequently to stop and replay in an effort to catch the nuances of this studio recording. Why the publishers of the waltzes have packed the disk so tightly is an annoying mystery. Justice is not done to the remarkable interpretations of the pianist. (The otherwise useless liner-notes remind us that "for this recording, Maria-Joao Pires has chosen the same order as Dinu Lipatti." While the respect for the late Lipatti is touching, Lipatti's placing of the "grande" and "brilliante" waltzes at the beginning and the end makes them something like bookends that obscure the more modest waltzes at which Pires excels.)Although I am not as familiar with the concertos, I find this recording satisfying -- except in the upper octaves, in which the solo instrument sounds pathetically tinny, almost like the "plinking" of a toy piano. (I should speak, rather, of "one" of the solo instruments. The disk contains the almost unacknowledged solo work of Michel Garcin, one of the most respected horn-players of our day, performing here with the Monte Carlo Orchestra under the baton of Armin Jordon.) It is deplorable that the sound-engineers or producers (or someone) has failed to give Maria-Joao Pires the tonal reproduction that her extraordinary performance deserves.Finally, it is a mystery to me why the line drawing of a naked woman graces -- or disgraces -- the packaging of these disks. The artist is an obscure Frenchman named Charlemont, whose only known relationship to Chopin was a sharing of some of the years of the 19th Century.I would not willingly part with these disks -- but, technically, they do not come even close to the magnificent Pires recordings of the Chopin Nocturnes."

Pires plays Chopin

A. Landy | 10/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Maria Joao Pires is a Chopin interpreter par excellence. Her performances of these works always leaves me with a satisfied feeling within. Highly recommended."