Hyperion Records | Paderewski: Sonata & Variations

Click album cover to view larger version

CDA67562

Recording details: December 2006
Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Produced by Jeremy Hayes
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: August 2007
Total duration: 79 minutes 17 seconds

'Jonathan Plowright shines a powerful light on Paderewski … You have a pianist clearly in love with every bar of Paderewski's romantic rhetoric and it would be hard to imagine playing of greater sympathy or a more intimidating visceral strength and cogency. A pianist who excels in music's darker undercurrents and declamations, he clears every daunting hurdle with awe-inspiring ease, making a formidable case for one of music's neglected byways. Finely presented and recorded, this is a valuable and surprising issue' (Gramophone)

'A distinctive and distinguished melodic voice shines through … Everywhere there is always a strong sense of forward momentum … In Jonathan Plowright these works have a near-ideal interpreter. Not only does he negotiate Paderewski's dizzying virtuoso demands with evident ease, but also his ability to bring an almost string-like tone to the more lyrical passiages constantly fascinates in this excellent recording' (BBC Music Magazine)

'All three works provide the listener with an incredible musical journey; a kaleidoscope of pianistic ideas with fleeting echoes of Rachmaninov, Brahms, Debussy, and even elements of earlier music with its elegance and trills, yet in no way derivative. The playing is world-class; understated virtuosity at its best. Plowright easily integrates all the difficult elements – and Paderewski described the Op.23 Variations as his best and most difficult work - into the musical lines as if they don’t exist' (Classic FM Magazine)

'It's all dense music, highly wrought, and Jonathan Plowright plays it quite superbly, with an enviable range of keyboard colour' (The Guardian)

'… A pianist who clearly believes in the music, who has studied it with appreciation and insight. Jonathan Plowright fits the bill admirably – and he has the technical wherewithal to do it justice. He unfolds the extended Fugue of Opus 23 imperiously; here the astringency of Paderewski’s conception perfectly caps what has gone before. This is fascinating music impressively performed, recorded and annotated – and cannot be recommended too highly' (ClassicalSource.com)

'The music is by turns lyrical, tender, propulsive and bizarre … Plowright, who has made lesser-known composers a specialty … performs with conviction and panache. He gives Paderewski his due, revealing the seriousness of purpose, the lighthearted charm and a penchant for self-indulgence' (San Francisco Chronicle)

'Jonathan Plowright semble avoir parfaitement saisi que l'esprit qui y souffle est celui de la musique et non du simple piano. Il leur donne une unité, une densité qui méritent l'admiration, soulignant l'envergure et l'humilité d'un compositeur à redécouvrir vraiment' (Diapason)

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941)

Sonata & Variations

Jonathan Plowright (piano)

LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS

		Piano Sonata in E flat minor, Op 21
1		Movement 1: Allegro con fuoco [14'50]
2		Movement 2: Andante ma non troppo [10'42]
3		Movement 3: Allegro vivace [9'03]
		Variations and Fugue on an original theme in A minor, Op 11
4		Movement 01: Theme. Andante non troppo [0'50]
5		Movement 02: Variation I [0'43]
6		Movement 03: Variation II. Allegro moderato [0'33]
7		Movement 04: Variation III. Allegro vivace [0'30]
8		Movement 05: Variation IV. Vivace [0'30]
9		Movement 06: Variation V. Maestoso [0'57]
10		Movement 07: Variation VI. Animato e molto leggiero [0'26]
11		Movement 08: Variation VII. Vivace e sempre grazioso [0'40]
12		Movement 09: Variation VIII. Presto [0'15]
13		Movement 10: Variation IX. Tempo I [0'51]
14		Movement 11: Variation X. Un poco più mosso [0'46]
15		Movement 12: Variation XI. Andante misterioso [1'32]
16		Movement 13: Variation XII. Con fuoco [0'32]
17		Movement 14: Variation XIII. Allegro molto appassionato [0'24]
18		Movement 15: Variation XIV. Larghetto [2'03]
19		Movement 16: Fugue. Allegretto [3'44]
		Variations and Fugue on an original theme in E flat minor, Op 23
20		Movement 01: Theme. Maestoso [1'02]
21		Movement 02: Variation I [0'57]
22		Movement 03: Variation II [0'58]
23		Movement 04: Variation III. Un poco più mosso ed agitato [0'34]
24		Movement 05: Variation IV. Animato [0'19]
25		Movement 06: Variation V. Vivace ma non troppo [0'35]
26		Movement 07: Variation VI. Andante ma non troppo [2'27]
27		Movement 08: Variation VII. Un poco animato [1'03]
28		Movement 09: Variation VIII. Allegro moderato [0'50]
29		Movement 10: Variation IX. Meno mosso [1'04]
30		Movement 11: Variation X. Gradioso [1'15]
31		Movement 12: Variation XI. Allegro scherzoso [0'53]
32		Movement 13: Variation XII. Maestoso [1'04]
33		Movement 14: Variation XIII. Agitato [0'36]
34		Movement 15: Variation XIV. Allegro feroce [1'07]
35		Movement 16: Variation XV. Andantino, con tenerezza [1'58]
36		Movement 17: Variation XVI. Moderato [1'42]
37		Movement 18: Variation XVII. Allegro ma non troppo [0'57]
38		Movement 19: Variation XVIII. Vivace [0'50]
39		Movement 20: Variation XIX. Un poco meno mosso ma molto agitato [0'52]
40		Movement 21: Variation XX. Allegro con fuoco [0'43]
41		Movement 22: Fugue. Allegro molto moderato [7'40]

Approaching 150 years since the birth of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860–1941) there remains a certain ambivalence about his legacy. Should he be judged primarily as a pianist or as a composer-pianist? The three works on this disc make the strongest possible case for the latter. The large-scale Piano Sonata in E flat minor, Op 21, is a powerful, turbulent work, showing the composer’s affinity with Rachmaninov in its passion and extreme technical difficulty, contrasting on occasion with writing of affecting simplicity. The brilliant Jonathan Plowright is the ideal apologist for this music—a keen advocate of the Polish Romantic repertoire, possessed of the highest qualities of technique and interpretation.