Search - Frederic Chopin, Eliahu Inbal, London Philharmonic Orchestra :: Frederic Chopin: Complete Works For Piano And Orchestra

Beautifully balanced

K. G. Lee | Princeton, NJ | 11/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Upon listening to Arrau playing the Chopin concerti, the first thing that jumps to attention is his tone: it metamorphises between lively and bright to aching, naked beauty, most notably in the Op.11 1st Concerto. I keep listening the first movement over and over to recapture that reflective, dark tone of his at the culmination of the theme's development. Somehow, his tone reminds me of drops of dew in a moonlit night. However, considering that Arrau was already 69 years old when he made this recording, you may think that reflective and spiritual is all he has, but surprisingly he managed to put in energy and zest where it's required in the fast movements. I've seen a video of Yundi Li, the Chinese prodigy who won the 2000 Chopin Piano Competition, and Arrau doesn't lose out in the comparison in terms of energy.



Overall, Arrau's interpretation concentrates on exploring the intimate, passionate side of these pieces, which were written in Chopin's youth, and in this respect he brings the same mastery which endowed his interpretations of the Nocturnes. However, this is certainly not at the expense of the zesty side of these pieces.



The core of recording is Chopin's 2 piano concerti, and the rest of it is composed of his other works for piano and orchestra, which are in fact more commonly played as piano solos. The most famous of these is the Andante Spianiato and Grand Polonaise, and it's very obvious that the orchestra is almost superfluous in these pieces. Speaking of the orchestra, the London Philharmonic conducted by Eliahu Inbal is understated but unerringly faithful in backing the pianistic centrepiece provided by Arrau.



Overall, a recording to be highly recommended, even more so considering the low price of this release."