Frederic Chopin – Valses (Tharaud) [2006]

1. Valse op. posth. A minor (Chopin)
2. Valse op. 64, # 2 C sharp minor
3. "Grande valse brillante" op. 34 #3 F major
4. Valse op. 64, #3 A flat major
5. "Grande valse" op. 42 A flat major
6. Valse op. 70 #2 F minor
7. Valse op. 70 #3 D flat major
8. Valse op. posth. E major
9. Valse op. posth. E minor
10. Valse op. 34 #2 A minor
11. Valse op. 69 #2 B minor
12. Valse op. 64 #1 D flat major
13. Valse op. 70 #1 G flat major
14. Valse op. 69 #1 A flat major
15. Valse op. posth. A flat major
16. "Grande valse brillante" op. 34 # 1 A flat major
17. Valse op. posth. E flat major
18. Valse op. posth. E flat major
19. "Grande valse brillante" op. 18 E flat major
20. Valse-Evocation(Variations on a theme by Chopin) (Mompou)

Alexandre Tharaud – piano

Alexandre Tharaud plays all 19 waltzes, including the 5 posthumous ones, arranged in a sequence that lends a logical ebb and flow along the course of an hour devoted to works composed throughout Chopin's lifetime. More important, he plays with a refreshing freedom that includes a command of subtle rubato so essential to this music. Tharaud's attention to dynamics and his gorgeous tone colors make you hang on every note, especially in pieces like the Grande Valse, Op. 42, which becomes a drama in waltz time. Even the charm of the opus posthumous E major Waltz never cloys because of Tharaud's subtle dynamic variations. An exceptional touch here is the final track, placed as an encore. It's Mompou's gorgeous homage to Chopin, sounding, in Tharaud's words, "like an intimate echo" of Chopin's world and music. This is one of the great Chopin CDs---an extraordinary disc no lover of piano music or of Chopin (aren't they the same?) should be without. ---Dan Davis, amazon.com

Alexandre Tharaud traverses the whole of Chopin's waltzes in his own personal style for this 2006 recording. Chopin is considered a French composer as often as he is a Polish one, so it is fitting that Tharaud turns his attention to Chopin's music, just as he has with the music of his true countrymen. Tharaud's approach to the set is similar to that of pianists of the mid-20th century. He places them in an order that he believes suits them. Most of the waltzes were published posthumously, so although approximate composition dates are known, it's not known how Chopin himself would have grouped or ordered them had he decided to publish them (in fact, he had wanted the unpublished ones destroyed). Tharaud also performs them in a highly stylized way, using poetic license to make the music his own. He finishes the program with a waltz by 20th century, Catalan composer Federico Mompou, which echoes Chopin not only by quoting him musically, but also in the temperament, so that although the harmonies are nothing like Chopin's, the feel of the music is. ---Patsy Morita, Rovi

download: uploaded anonfiles yandex 4shared solidfiles mediafire mega

back