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Track(s) taken from CDA67371/2

Nocturne in A flat major, Op 32 No 2

composer
1836/7

Angela Hewitt (piano)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
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Recording details: November 2003
Reitstadel, Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Germany
Produced by Ludger Böckenhoff
Engineered by Ludger Böckenhoff
Release date: November 2004
Total duration: 5 minutes 21 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
Stephen Hough (piano)
Lívia Rév (piano)

Reviews

‘In a catalogue boasting many distinguished Chopin Nocturne cycles, Angela Hewitt's commands attention’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘One of the most elegant pianists around, the Canadian virtuoso Angela Hewitt interrupts her epic Bach and Couperin cycles for Hyperion to explore some of Chopin's most refined music, the complete Nocturnes and Impromptus. Hewitt's innate sophistication and delicacy of touch are perfectly suited to these exquisite pieces, 25 of them over two discs, by a master of the genre at the height of his fragile powers. Spanning almost his entire creative life, the Nocturnes amount to a remarkable graph of Chopin's emotional maturity, touchingly reflected in the affectionate care Hewitt brings to what sounds like a labour of love’ (The Observer)

‘Hewitt is not given to grand effects, whether an extreme rubato or rude dynamic change. Still, she can play grandly as well, as we hear on her powerful performance of the great Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor. This new recording of the nocturnes is what Marlon Brando would have called, if he had cared, a contender. It's richly recorded and beautifully played: it has art's final seal’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘Angela Hewitt is a sound buy … the delicacy of touch and manicured precision of the phrasing is a delight’ (The Scotsman)
The Nocturne in A flat major was much later incorporated in an orchestral version into Fokine’s ballet Les Sylphides; I admit that this was how I first became acquainted with it so, like it or not, it is forever associated in my mind with the dance. The middle section in particular lends itself to this feeling with its lightly tripping triplets that become increasingly intense and wild, so much so as to bring back the opening theme fortissimo and appassionato. But Chopin gradually calms down, and closes the Nocturne with the same two-bar cadence and reverential gesture with which it opened.

from notes by Angela Hewitt © 2004

Une version orchestrale du nocturne en la bémol majeur fut incorporée beaucoup plus tard au ballet de Fokine, Les Sylphides; j’avoue l’avoir découvert sous cette forme et, que je le veuille ou non, mon esprit l’associera toujours à la danse. La section centrale se prête particulièrement à ce sentiment, avec ses triolets sautillant d’un pas léger, qui se font de plus en plus intenses et débridés, au point de ramener le thème initial fortissimo et appassionato. Mais Chopin s’apaise peu à peu et conclut le Nocturne par la même cadence de deux mesures et le même geste révérenciel qu’en ouverture.

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

Das Nocturne in As-Dur wurde in einem Arrangement für Orchester sehr viel später in Fokines Ballett Les Sylphides eingefügt; ich muss gestehen, dass ich das Stück in dieser Form zum ersten Mal zu hören bekam und dass es sich mir auf diese Weise, ob ich wollte oder nicht, unauslöschlich in Verbindung mit dem Tanz eingeprägt hat. Der Mittelteil mit seinen trippelnden Triolen passt besonders gut in ein solches Bild. Diese Triolen werden dann jedoch so intensiv und wild, dass das Anfangsthema appassionato und im fortissimo zurückkehrt. Doch Chopin beruhigt sich allmählich und beendet das Nocturne mit derselben zweitaktigen Kadenz und ehrerbietigen Geste, mit der es begann.

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: The Complete Works
CDS44351/6616CDs Boxed set (at a special price) — Download only
Chopin: Nocturnes & Impromptus
This album is not yet available for downloadSACDA67371/22CDs Super-Audio CD — Deleted
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