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Track(s) taken from CDA67849

Waltz in C sharp minor, Op 64 No 2

composer
published in 1847

Stephen Hough (piano)
Recording details: October 2010
Concert Hall, Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: August 2011
Total duration: 3 minutes 19 seconds

Cover artwork: Black and White (1960/1). Ellsworth Kelly (b1923)
The Art Institute of Chicago, restricted gift of Mr and Mrs Arnold H Maremount / Photograph by Grant Hiroshima
 

Other recordings available for download

Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
Stephen Hough (piano)

Reviews

‘Launching his latest album with the earliest of waltzes to which Chopin gave an opus number, Stephen Hough sets a sparkling tone for what follows on this altogether brilliant disc … Hough is a pianist with all the elegance, wit and virtuosity required for these pieces, yet he also finds the deep vein of melancholy that runs through many of them’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Hough's decision to record the eight published waltzes in chronological order allows us to gain a feel for Chopin's glorious development in this genre … essential listening’ (The Observer)

‘Chopin’s waltzes are salon pieces, but always more than salon pieces, and Hough brings an astonishing range of touch to them. All those sophisticated inner parts and harmonic shifts are brought out with the greatest insouciance and style’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Hough's playing has such authority and panache, its balance between virtuosity and vividly communicated expression so finely judged, that every perfectly scaled moment is as intensely realised as every other. Few other pianists around today play Chopin with as much understanding and poised mastery as this’ (The Guardian)

‘Every [Waltz] conveys the feeling of bodies in motion, skirts twirling, and hearts intertwined … you don’t just hear Hough’s fingers; you hear his soul … the Minute Waltz contains one of the best melting moments of all; I could feel my knees giving way … I knew I’d never get my shins kicked, or an ache in the heel: I was dancing with Chopin and one of the world’s top pianists’ (The Times)

‘The leading British virtuoso has championed the byways of the piano literature since his award-winning Hummel concertos disc for Chandos. That he is also the most compelling interpreter of the mainstream classics is demonstrated by this winning collection of the 17 canonical masterpieces—and a handful of "encores" … his delicious lilt and rubato always seem perfectly judged, and he sweeps us off our feet with the twinkle-fingered brilliance of his dashing F major waltz … after the whirlwind merry-go-round of Chopin's imaginary ballroom, he sends us off to bed with a reposeful nocturne (Op 9 No 2)—a delightfully thoughtful touch to crown a mesmerising collection’ (The Sunday Times)
Where Chopin excels is in his creation of what Schumann described as ‘waltzes for souls much more than waltzes for bodies’. There is no better example than one of his very last works, the Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2. If it is still a waltz for the body it is for a soulful and solitary one that moves with a pathetic little skip between the sighing parallel sixths of its main theme and then twists away in a nostalgic pirouette. The melodiously expressive middle section—approached by a run of quavers that has the function of a recurring refrain—is harmonized in D flat major but is scarcely less poignant than the C sharp minor episodes on either side of it.

from notes by Gerald Larner © 2009

Chopin excelle il crée ce que Schumann appella «des valses pour les âmes plus encore que pour les corps»—l’une de ses toute dernières œuvres, la Valse en ut dièse mineur op. 64 no 2 en est le meilleur exemple. C’est une valse pour le corps, mais pour un corps attendrissant et solitaire qui avance avec un pathétique petit bond entre les sixtes parallèles soupirantes de son thème principal avant de s’en retourner dans une pirouette nostalgique. La section centrale mélodieusement expressive—abordée par une série de croches faisant office de refrain—est harmonisée en ré bémol majeur mais est à peine moins poignante que les épisodes en ut dièse mineur qui la flanquent.

extrait des notes rédigées par Gerald Larner © 2009
Français: Hypérion

Zwar ist Webers Aufforderung zum Tanz gehaltvoller als die Walzer von Chopin, doch tut sich Chopin insofern hervor, als dass er Walzer für die Seele anstatt den Körper (wie Schumann es ausdrückte) komponierte. Am besten kann man das anhand eines seiner letzten Werke, dem Walzer in cis-Moll op. 64 Nr. 2, nachvollziehen. Wenn dies immer noch ein Walzer für den Körper ist, dann für einen seelenvollen und einsamen, der sich mit kleinen theatralischen Sprüngen zwischen den seufzenden Sextparallelen des Hauptthemas bewegt und sich dann mit einer nostalgischen Pirouette abwendet. Der ausdrucksvolle und melodiöse Mittelteil—auf den mit einer Achtelpassage zugesteuert wird, die später wie ein Refrain wiederkehrt—steht in Des-Dur, ist aber kaum weniger ergreifend als die cis-Moll-Episoden, von denen es eingerahmt wird.

aus dem Begleittext von Gerald Larner © 2009
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Other albums featuring this work

Chopin: The Complete Waltzes
CDH55381 Piano albums for £8.00
Chopin: The Complete Works
CDS44351/6616CDs Boxed set (at a special price) — Download only
Stephen Hough in recital
CDA67686
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