Search - Frederic Chopin, Lawrence Foster, Lisbon Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra :: Chopin: The 2 Piano Concertos [Hybrid SACD]

4.5 stars -- a newcomer teams with a veteran conductor; both

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 12/16/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Youthful Sa Chen (b. 1980) teams with veteran American-born (and of Roumanian parentage) Lawrence Foster and the Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Orchestra in this new recording of Chopin's piano concertos. The pair have a lot to say about the music, more, I was surprised to learn on repeat hearing, that some of the biggest names in the business, dead or alive.



I feared the prizewinning Chinese pianist may be in over her head when I noted her tentative approach to the second subject of the Concerto No. 1's first movement, but I was wrong; she was merely setting me up for the way she and Foster approach this music, which is to say a bit unexpectedly. They tend to imaginatively and subtly shift the emotional pitch and tempo a bit more than other recordings I've heard that have put a greater premium on uniform legato in the concertos.



This changeling nature of the partnership becomes obvious in the development following that second subject, when pacing moves from 60-65 to at least 100 within a half-dozen bars. Foster and the Portugese orchestra are consistenly along for the ride, on board with every crook in Sa's adventure, as if the team thought this out carefully and planned the ride together.



Like most award winners (the notes say Chen is the only one to place in the three major piano competitions -- Leeds, Cliburn and Chopin -- she has magisterial technique to burn. However, unlike her more famous countryman that requires two publicits, she seems not to have an interest in showy technique that is not completely at the mercy of the musical score. Her trilling in the opening of the first concerto is perfectly acceptable and her breaks with speed, up and down, always seem to work for me.



Chen is more adventurous in the more romantic second concerto, where she takes risks with pedaling and virtuosic prestedigitation in the middle and final movements that won't work for everyone. I think she does fine but others may sense her approach lacks the control she exhibited in the first concerto. To italicize the perspective shared by soloist and accompanist, wait until you come to the hunting horn interlude in the finale of Concerto No. 2. Be prepared to get out all your other recordings to see if anyone else takes it this way. None of mine did.



Not that I've specialized in these recordings over my collecting career but I've owned my share. I pulled three of the stereo classics to compare against this one -- Argerich-Dutoit on EMI, Rubinstein's stereo recordings with Alfred Wallenstein and Symphony of the Air (No. 2) and Skrowaczewski and New Symphony of London on an RCA super audio reinvention, and Kissin's famous childhood rendering with Kitaenko on the original "Legendary 1984 Concert" CD. After comparing the four recordings, two things struck me most greatly:

1) If Mahler or someone rewrote Schumann's symphonies, why didn't anyone improve Chopin's meatless orchestration?

2) Confirmation of Rubinstein's reputation as one of the great Chopin players in history.



No one I've heard, including Sa Chen, has approached his consistent and limpid legato. I've known nonbelievers that called his approach mechanical; that's not my view. Furious perfection is closer to what I'd call it, possibly even effortless perfection. And, being a hybrid super audio recording like this one, the sound is greatly upgraded from older versions.



Where does Sa Chen fit in this group? Way ahead of Argerich and Dutoit, whose EMI recording has terrible thick sound, and, at a minimum, on even footing with the recoridng that launched the career of Yevgeny Kissin. Considering she has outstanding accompaniment by Foster and the Portugese orchestra in completely up to date 2008 sound, it's easy to move this recording ahead of those two.



Not being the equal of the late life Rubinstein is no crime and to be mentioned in such company indicates the artist has much going for her. Sa Chen is a fabulous player, well-trained, artistically endowed and easy to hear in this lovely and natural-sounding recording. If you seek a new (or first) recording of these timeless masterpieces, I don't think you'd be disappointed with this one.



The PentaTone SACD is accompanied by a second disk -- a DVD of Chen's interview with Gramophone editor James Jolly and, perhaps, some video of her practicing or playing. I don't give a hoot for DVD and didn't watch it so I can't report what's actually included beyond the labeling. For those of you given to such things, this may be another reason to buy this offering. The notes are vanilla in three languages, saying an equal amount about the music and each performer, and the package includes an at-work photo each of Foster and Sa. Sa's face is plastered all over the cover, front and back."

A triumph for Chen Sa.

Abel | Hong Kong | 12/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Miss Chen Sa apparently has much in common with compatriot Li Yun Di - attending the same music conservatory in China, learning from the same teachers (Dan Zhao Yi and Arie Vardi), both are natives of Sichuan. Except that...

Miss Chen is three years Yun Di's senior, and in terms of musical maturity, even more than that.

It is useless comparing artists by reference to the positions they obtain from 'competitions'. Young Chen Sa should have fared much better in the Van Cliburn Competition in 2005 had she not missed the entire page of music in one performance session during the Competition.

Those were the old days. In recent years, I have had the opportunity to hear Miss Chen several times live performing in my city, and am happy to say that she is progressing very finely under the guidance of eminent teachers, and expecially, her protege - veteran Chinese pianist Fu T'song who now lectures at the Shanghai Conservatory - has been giving her invaluable guidance from his own invaluable experience as a veteran international performer.

Incidentally, young Chen Sa's debut album with Penta Tone coincided with Lang Lang's under DG in that both recorded Chopin's two piano concerti.

Comparisons are always harsh, but in terms of musicality and emotional involvement, Chen Sa's performance here has the clear edge over her illustrious compatriot.

It is even more interesting to 'hear' that Chen Sa's technique has progressed so significantly in these recordings, that even Lang Lang, who boosts of possessing superlative keyboard technique, did not 'enjoy' that clear predominance as he used to over Chen Sa any more.

Lawrence Foster's reading of these two concerti also has the edge over Zubin Mehta in DG's version. I remember so well that on Youtube, he had a live performance recording with Lang Lang some years ago, and that was also a very fine reading indeed by both the pianist and the conductor.

And last but not the least, Penta Tone really did a wonderful job in presenting these works for Chen Sa, the sound recording and overall balance of which are very fine indeed.

Chen Sa's Chopin Concerti offer a reading that both in terms of musicality and poetry that only the older Chinese school of pianists were capable of. One immediately recalls Fu Tsong's well-remembered recording with Tang Mu Hai almost 20 years ago. It is a deep-felt, well-balanced, externally full of finesse and at the same time fully internalised reading. Each phrase is fully involved and affecting.

The Second Concerti is even better than the First. Chen Sa, as she herself admitted during her interview, the No. 2 is a much more complex piece both structurally and emotionally. That she did put in the requisite effort in this piece is more than evident from the recording.

This SACD is a very satisfying recording of Chopin's concerti indeed.





"

Pleasantly balanced and nuanced reading by a debutant.

A. F. S. Mui | HK | 12/08/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Firstly, I must congratulate those persons involved in this recording, especially the soloist herself, Miss Sa Chen.

Miss Chen did not got the first place when she competed with compatriot Yundi Li in 2000 at the Chopin Piano Competition. That has quite a bit to do with technical prowess. Otherwise, young Sa is always well-posed and stylistically more mature pianist than her compatriots Yundi Li or Lang Lang.

Her debut album: Chopin Piano Concertos coincided exactly with Lang Lang's release on Deutsche Grammophone.

Here again, in terms of technical prowess, Lang Lang held clear sway. There are many passages in the First Concerto performed by him that many famed pianists could only pine for as demonstrated under young Lang's hands (one invokes memories of Dinu Lipatti's No. 1 Concerto recording).

However, Sa's version has two clear points that would undisputably be taken as 'edges'. One is the orchestral backup under Lawrence Foster. Foster has a much better realisation of Chopin's style than Zubin Mehta. The piece is much better structured, and tempi are better controlled. As a result, the yield is a much better musical balance. The other is the infinitely better accoustics on Penta Tone's super audio CD.

As for the lessor point, however, I must not refrain from mentioning that in terms of technical control, Sa's Second Concerto (especially the third movement) demonstrates at several places signs of over-stretching, almost on the verge of losing control. The tempi aren't too fast overall, but certain cadenza passages have the awkward feelings of 'racing with the orchestra' by the soloist.

All in all, LangLang's performance on DG is a more competent and cofident performance, and in terms of expression and interpretation (discounting Mehta), one of his best performances for quite some years.

"