Search - Frederic Chopin, Garrick Ohlsson :: Garrick Ohlsson - The Complete Chopin Piano Works Vol. 3 - Ballades

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

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ohlsson, always a pianist of innovation and creative vision, continues these proclivities with a set of Ballades that absolutely redefines the dimensional scope of the music entirely. His expressive, almost spiritual penetration weaves it's magic and wonder equally throughout... leaving us consumed.



Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23 [10:19] is both touching and ethereal, with an especial downplay of the more bombastic elements that allows this masterpiece to truly sing. The rapt opening of Ballade No. 2 in F, Op. 38 [8:36], with its chorale-like, meditative subtlety, finds Ohlsson heartfelt and introspective before the passion bursts, briefly, and the calm returns. The emotional give and take is finely realized. Ballade No. 3 in A-Flat, Op. 47 [8:27] begins slowly, its haunting lyrical theme proceeding to a second subject of equal beauty, and builds to a middle section ripe with glorious trills, divine melody and anticipatory excitement--- culminating in the most satisfying closure. In Ohlsson's hands, Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52 [12:15] is the apotheosis of the set, a composition richly endowed with unending lyricism, tangible melancholy, fantasy and perfection of design.



The delightful Rondos, Opp. 16 and 73, with just the right balance of virtuosity and fun, come as a much-needed "lift" from the emotional intensity of the Ballades. Here is a goodly romp with a pianist who appears to be having a wonderful time cavorting around the keyboard--- as he should--- entertaining us with his marvelous dexterity, panache and style.



As usual, the engineers have provided Mr. Ohlsson with a sound both intimate and warm, yet not lacking in the finest detail.



[Running time: 61:13]"

A particularly excellent performance of the First Ballade

Gordon R Cameron | 09/17/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have little expertise either in pianism or in recordings of Chopin, but Ohlsson's performance of the First Ballade is, to my mind, the best I've ever heard. (I have heard others by Murray Perahia, Vladimir Horowitz, Abbey Simon, and Josef Hofmann, to name a few.) Ohlsson has a powerful, muscular technique, and that's necessary to give the 1st Ballade the big, "heroic" interpretation it requires. Yet he is also able to shift between the thundering moments and the more delicate filigree segments, all the while maintaining a musical continuity. This is not easy to do: frankly, the First Ballade (for all its undoubted brilliance) is a flawed composition; some of its segments seem too improvisational and are not altogether unified with the greater whole. Ohlsson holds it all together -- something Horowitz, with his overly idiosyncratic, loose-tempo style, is unable to do.Although the First Ballade is the highlight of this disc, all the tracks are excellent. Ohlsson's performance of the Fourth Ballade (probably my favorite of Chopin's compositions) again reminds us that here is a pianist who brings to Chopin a complete musicianship: capable of handling the difficult contrasts among tender "salon-style" sentimentality, Bach-like contrapuntal rigor, and stormy virtuosity, while always keeping in mind the total architecture, and building up to critical moments many measures in advance."

(+) Ohlsson's Ballades could have been For the Ages...

C. Pontus T. | SE/Asia | 01/18/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"INTRODUCTION: The 3rd Volume in Ohlsson's complete reference survey of Chopin's works includes four of the greatest pieces ever written for the piano. One would indeed expect this reviewer to claim this as the perfect version of the four Ballades. And well-nigh it is, hadn't it been for some rather minor, but unignorable, flaws.



REFERENCES: Demidenko (Chopin: Ballades; Third Sonata); This One



Ohlsson starts out by sending us to virtually unknown territory in the incomparably measured and subtle rendition of the initial G-minor and E-flat-major sections of the First Ballade, taking up as much as 5 minutes and 13 seconds (cf Demidenko's 4:08). In the ensuing A-major/E-flat-major section, he launches some furious drama and panache. Hence, everything is set for the most dazzling G-minor concluding section (8:55)...--but, alas, that was not to be. I believe we're faced with an editing letdown; I strongly doubt this tame and sloppy (there are in fact a few awful-sounding slips) conclusion even remotely represents what Ohlsson is capable of achieving. Overall, this Arabesque series has been meticulously conceived and produced; this instance shows one of the very few exceptions to this rule.



The Fourth Ballade--perhaps the very pinnacle of 19th century piano writing, together with Liszt's Second Ballade--gets the most complete version yet put on record. The elegiac and painfully beautiful melody of the groping opening section is painted with an otherworldly exquisiteness. The middle section (mostly in B-flat major--4:36) is given the just right combination of relaxed calm and forward momentum. The concluding section (9:25) with 'Coda' contains some of Chopin's most dramatic music. I doubt any other pianist so successfully has managed to negotiate the balance between sustained beauty and unleashed force; particularly the 'Coda' (11:03) is absolutely thrilling, with the inner voices brought out to their maximum effect.



The Second and Third Ballades are certainly done beautifully as well as imaginatively. As in most other instances, Ohlsson brings out details and colours previously unheard. However, his extremely measured tempos may have gotten the best of him here. For instance, the 'development' section (4:25) of the Second almost comes to a standstill, whereas the virtuosic 'bridge' section (4:37) in the Third loses both its shape and lightness. Kissin and Demidenko in the Second, and Zimerman and Moravec in the Third come closer to what I have in mind as the archetype renditions, respectively. Also worth noting is that the young Ohlsson can be heard live in the Third (on Czech Radioservis, 1973); just like the 1989 Arabesque account, this performance is crowned by Ohlsson's particularly pulsating articulation of the second theme (first heard in C major), though at a more flowing and natural-sounding pace (6:52).



The Op 16 Rondo gets a real luxury treat from Ohlsson; in a way similar to the Opp 1 & 5 Rondos, he carries the piece to a more profound level than the music itself actually calls for. On the other hand, this is also where the performance of the Op 73 Rondo fails: This is a virtuoso display piece, for better or for worse; Ohlsson's idea to slow things down a degree or two (or perhaps even three), trying to find depths that just aren't there, works directly against the music. Ashkenazy's brilliant account is preferable in every respect (nearly two minutes faster).



The recording of the marvelous Bösendorfer instrument is firmly in the demonstration bracket. I don't think any other label has even remotely succeeded this well at capturing the rich and iridescent sound of these sadly underrated instruments--that is, in comparison to the ubiquitous Steinways. Another trademark of Arabesque's reference series is the exciting liners notes of Frank Cooper. These are particularly interesting as far as the Ballades are concerned as Cooper extensively discusses the often alleged literary influences of Chopin's friend, the poet Adam Mickiewicz: 'Speculative scholarship has linked each piece with a specific poem, brief summaries [included by Cooper] of which may stimulate the listener to appreciate the narrative tone of these impassioned works.' Nevertheless, '[p]resent fashion in musicology decries such literal associations'.



This disc of the four Chopin Ballades could have one for the ages, but--again--that was not to be. Next out is 4th Volume of the Scherzos and Variations (Garrick Ohlsson - The Complete Chopin Piano Works Vol. 4 ~ Scherzi & Variations).



TIMINGS: Ballades--10:11, 8:30, 8:21, 12:08; Rondos (Opp 16 & 73)--11:07, 10:22"