Search - Frederic Chopin, Garrick Ohlsson :: Garrick Ohlsson - The Complete Chopin Piano Works Vol. 5 ~ Polonaises & Impromptus

A BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK!!!

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 01/02/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Garrick Ohlsson, whose Arabesque recordings of Chopin I have been reviewing for several weeks now, is a pianist of exceptional wisdom, scope, technical mastery and sensitivity, and even greater depth. His work always seems to reveal something new and exciting; this is exactly why I was taken by complete surprise, and disappointment, when I listened to this set.



Mr. Ohlsson fares exceedingly well with the early polonaises, Chopin's combination of youthful exhuberance and eager maturity readily captured with equal enthusiasm, and they are irresistible. The Op. 71, in particular, shows Ohlsson at his most perceptive; here we view the mature polonaises... in seedling form... not yet bursting through... but with the "spirit of the dance" hardly smothered. Indeed, these are beautiful renditions.



Unfortunately, the mature polonaises themselves (those famous Chopin warhorses!) fare less well. These later works, to me, seem curiously metronomic, tedious, stolid, peculiarly self-indulgent--- characteristics I would hardly associate with Mr.Ohlsson's artistry. Yet, even with all his good intentions and keen insight brought to bear, the playing here seems forced, deliberate and quite earthbound. I was not a little amazed to almost sense what seemed to be a discomfiture in the pianist's lack of kinship with these later polonaises.



Throughout his Chopin traversal, I have frequently commented on Mr.Ohlsson's creative grasp on the composer's visionary genius; but here we have an artistic quandary, something amiss. Regretfully, these mature polonaises don't reach the magisterial heights they deserve. Too frequently, they are undermined by a rather languid fatigue. Even the emotionally-charged Polonaise-Fantasie, Op. 61 (timing in at a hefty 14:15), never really gets off the ground--- or into our hearts--- as it should.



However! All is not lost! Ohlsson returns to form with his truly "improvisational" and spontaneous readings of Chopin's four delicious Impromptus (Opp. 29,36,51 and 66). Filled with surprise, nostalgia and charm, these pieces have always been favorites of mine, and Ohlsson captures the essence of each beautifully.



The sound throughout is full, warm and intimate.



[Running time--- CD 1: 63:12 CD 2: 74:03]"