Search - Frederic Chopin, Elisabeth Leonskaja :: Chopin: Piano Works [Hybrid SACD]

Fine Chopin Recital with 1901 Steinway

Oldnslow | Seattle, Washington USA | 06/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Elisabeth Leonskaja brings a lifetime of experience to these wonderful Chopin Scherzi and Nocturnes. Her style is straightforward, her technique secure, and she is fully capable of the massive sonorities required for the Scherzi, and even parts of the noctures. I find her use of a 1901 Steinway very interesting. This same piano was presumably used in her recent late Brahms recital, at least it sounds like the same piano to these ears. The piano sound is between an historic piano from Chopin's time (or Brahms' time for that matter) and a modern instrument. I don't know how to quite describe the sound, except to say that it is just wonderful in the quieter passages, yet fully able to convey the revolutionary power inherent in these great works, while lacking the great depth of sound of a modern concert grand. What is fully conveyed is the sense of the shock and drama audiences must have experienced when hearing these works for the first time. If a recording can convey that to the ears of a modern listener, who has heard these pieces hundreds of times, it must be given great respect. A beautiful recital, as is the Brahms from this same team."