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Track(s) taken from CDS44351/66

Nocturne in B major, Op 32 No 1

composer
1836/7

Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
Recording details: October 1994
Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, State University of New York, USA
Produced by Adam Abeshouse
Engineered by Adam Abeshouse
Release date: November 2008
Total duration: 5 minutes 46 seconds

Cover artwork: Frédéric Chopin in concert at the Hotel Lambert, Paris (1840). Antar Teofil Kwiatowski (1809-1891)
Bibliothèque Polonaise, Paris / Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images
 

Other recordings available for download

Angela Hewitt (piano)
Stephen Hough (piano)
Lívia Rév (piano)

Reviews

‘Hyperion's big deal … Ohlsson is a powerful and committed player, and is afforded very good sound by the engineers … this is almost certainly how these pieces were played in Chopin's time’ (The Mail on Sunday)

‘This is an oustanding achievement, which any genuine Chopin lover and student of Romantic music should own … a landmark in the recording of Chopin's music … Garrick Ohlsson and Hyperion deserve the greatest success in bringing this important undertaking to such a consistently impressive conclusion’ (International Record Review)

‘An attractively priced box set … Ohlsson is in a class of his own’ (Pianist)

‘The collaborative works receive particularly rewarding performances … Ohlsson arguably offers more consistent artistry than Biret, Ashkenazy, Magaloff, and Harasiewicz’ (Classics Today)

‘Garrick Ohlsson’s complete survey of everything Chopin wrote for piano (including chamber music, songs, and for piano and orchestra) will delight the completist and the Chopin connoisseur. Ohlsson (who won the Chopin International Piano Competition in 1970) gives us accounts of this wondrous repertoire in weighty and commanding style, aristocratic and impulsive (but not lacking light and shade or contemplative contrasts) and, at times, very sensitive and searching. These vivid recordings were made in the second half of the 1990s and have previously appeared on the Arabesque label. They now sit very well in Hyperion’s catalogue’ (Classical Source)
The unusual thing about the Nocturne in B major is that the ending, with its sinister, threatening drumbeats and rather angry recitative, comes in complete contrast to the serene beginning. But it also transforms what could be a rather uneventful work into something much more meaningful.

from notes by Angela Hewitt © 2004

Le Nocturne en si majeur est insolite en ce que sa conclusion, aux battements de tambour sinistres, menaçants, et au récitatif plutôt furieux, contraste totalement avec son ouverture sereine, transformant ce qui pourrait être une œuvre assez terne en quelque chose de bien plus profond.

extrait des notes rédigées par Angela Hewitt © 2004
Français: Hypérion

Das Ungewöhnliche an dem ersten in H-Dur ist dass der Schluss mit seinem unheimlichen, drohenden Trommelschlägen und recht zornigen Rezitativ im völligen Gegensatz zu dem heiteren Anfang steht. Dabei wird jedoch auch ein zunächst fast belangloses Werk in etwas viel Aussagekräftigeres verwandelt.

aus dem Begleittext von Angela Hewitt © 2004
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Other albums featuring this work

Chopin: Nocturnes
Studio Master: CDA68351/22CDsStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Chopin: Nocturnes
CDD220132CDs Dyad (2 for the price of 1) — Last few CD copies remaining
Chopin: Nocturnes & Impromptus
Studio Master: CDA67371/22CDsStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Chopin: Nocturnes & Impromptus
This album is not yet available for downloadSACDA67371/22CDs Super-Audio CD — Deleted
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