Search - Bernard D'Ascoli :: Chopin: Complete Scherzi and Impromptus

Remarkable!

Andrew M. Klein | Washington, DC USA | 05/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Until I tried three discs of Bernard D'Ascoli's Chopin, his versions of the Nocturnes and these works, about a month ago, I had never heard of D'Ascoli. I still know nothing about him except that his Chopin playing is inspirational. No other pianist -- not Kissen, not Richter, not Ashkenazy, not Horowitz (though his virtuosity in Chopin's most complicated works can be frightening -- not something I'm sure Chopin meant to convey), not Argerich (though her playing is quite beautiful and often dazzling and surprising), and probably not Rubenstein (though in his case I'll have to go back and listen again to be sure)-- captures Chopin so perfectly. D'Ascoli gives new life to Chopin pieces I have listened to, and to a limited extent played, for fifty years. D'Ascoli leads us through them gracefully and effortlessly. He captures Chopin's mercurial shifts in mood without abruptness. He conveys in a wonderfully balanced way what I believe Chopin meant to tell us and in the manner in which I think Chopin would have done that. I am overjoyed to have heard these pieces played and made fresh by such a master -- and to have found Bernard D'Ascoli. Don't pass him up!"