Search - Frederic Chopin, Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Olga Kern :: Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1

Magnificient Playing of Chopin From Olga Kern

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 05/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Olga Kern is a young pianist who has been earning ample praise for her playing these past few years. I had the pleasure finally to become acquainted with her prodigious talent at the keyboard, seeing her recently in a performance of Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy" with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, and I must note that her playing was quite graceful, and polished, without the pyrotechnical showmanship I have seen from, for example, Lang Lang. She's definitely one of the finest pianists of her generation, but for some odd reason, she has been content to make piano concerto recordings with second and third tier orchestras only, not with some of Europe's and North America's most eminent ensembles. Here in this fine recording, Kern demonstrates that she is becoming one of our best interperters of Chopin's piano scores, beginning with a fine performance of the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 which was recorded back in 2004 during a USA tour with conductor Antoni Wit and the Warsaw Philharmonic. Her intense, technically brilliant playing comes off as a fascinating mixture of Alfred Brendel's cool, detached technical skills with Martha Argerich's fiery temperment. And I think that's a fine analogy which works quite well in her playing of several notable Chopin solo piano pieces, which were recorded in London a few months after her USA tour. Indeed, her performances of the Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49, the Fantaisie-Impromoptu, Op. 66, and especially, the Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 are among the most inspired, passionate, and least self-indulgent that I've heard either in a recording or live during a concert performance.



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Chopin pot pourri

Eric Minton | 10/21/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album is mostly awesome. I particularly enjoyed the shorter works such as the Fantasy Impromptu. I have never been a fan of Chopin's Concertos. He is indeed the master of the smaller works. I would have rather heard the 2nd sonata on this recording. I had heard Ms Kern play the fantasy in recital and had to have this recording. She is quite the showman in concert but her interpretations are very musical on disc."

Flaming beauty with clarity and grandeur

Sylvester G. Spencer | Seattle, WA, USA | 11/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can listen to all of this with total confidence that what I hear is all approaching very close to what both the composer and the Muses of our age would intend us to hear, ideally.



Seems that Olga and Lang Lang, though coming from diverse places, have caught very similar waves -- there was once an old, stereotypical type of "classical music showmanship" that seemed to buzz over some of the most dramatically detailed musical content for the sake of showing off a preconceived "virtuosity". This old stunt-man buzz is obviously becoming a thing of the past.



From the very start, Olga's rendition of the Concerto's 1st Mvt opens us up to an awesome display of detail, setting up an atmosphere for a long view into the depths of the metaphysical universe. It's interesting that Chopin seems to comfirm for us, first, that there is indeed much to overwhelm the psyche in the austere grand design, potentially. But when one carries through to the later movements the Muses would suggest (comically, perhaps) that at the center of all things are, ultimately, only the humble intricasies of love and happiness, as fundamental creations under the overarching canopy of the Almighty.



As a would-be Player myself, I find I can learn much from this CD's tremendous commitment to the Art itself. If I had young students again, as of old, I would have them put in lots of time listening to this one especially, and recreating some of the effects. I can see special Kids with ears to hear and a mind's eye to see gathering around Olga."