Search - Fryderyk Chopin, Kazimier Kord, Garrick Ohlsson :: Garrick Ohlsson - The Complete Chopin Piano Works Vol. 9 ~ The Orchestral Works

POWER AND POETRY

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 12/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Garrick Ohlsson won top prize at the Chopin Competition (1970) in Warsaw (with, appropriately enough, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Witold Rowicki), he astounded the musical world in very much the same way Van Cliburn did when he seized the '57 Tchaikovsky award.



It is fitting, obviously, as part of his complete traversal of Chopin's piano works, that Mr. Ohlsson now return to the concertos, and to the other works for piano and orchestra--- and return he does with a wisdom and impressive emotional spectrum that raises these compositions to rarified heights.



Frankly, the set is self-recommending: Ohlsson establishes, especially in the concertos, an awesome balance between their masculine and feminine natures--- his piano centrally focused and magical, lushly supported, again, by the WPO, but this time under Kazimierz Kord. Now, however, over thirty years later, Ohlsson's maturity as a pianist adds a decided "gravitas" to his Chopin interpretations, as well as a shimmering spontaneity, a sense of abandon and cheekiness, an exquisitely rich, full-blooded romanticism, and a mercurial sparkle that, taken altogether, reveal him as one of our foremost and rewarding Chopinists.



This set is, strangely enough, quite essential not only for Ohlsson's phenomenal concerto performances, but for the other "less regarded" works, as well. Yes, without a doubt! To these well-worn ears, never has the Variations for Piano and Orchestra in B-flat, Op. 2 been more touchingly conceived, the Fantasia on Polish Airs, Op. 13 more spiritual in feeling, the Krakowiak, Op. 14 more overtly joyful, the Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise, Op. 22 such an exceptional revelation of divine melancholy in tandem with rousing exhuberance.



And what a glorious sound world the Arabesque engineers have given Ohlsson and the WPO! One feels surrounded by a comforting warmth, a musical security, a tangible "wholeness." Mr. Ohlsson's piano is always completely realistic, each note a gift, chordal work full and flush--- and the instrument placed nicely forward, yet well-integrated.



[Running time--- CD 1: 72:34 CD 2: 62:24]"

The Best Classic Concept

Gerardo Martinez Casas | San Miguel de Cozumel, Quintana Roo, México | 07/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"recording of all times . Absolutely otherworldly . Is just too expensive as it is here . Can't figure why , but a must have for fantasy piano classic lovers , specially Grand Polonaise which is the end of the 2002 movie with Adrien Brody - The Pianist which is the reason i got these cd . Garrick is a master pianist to say the least . Find it somewhere else and enjoy ..."