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Track(s) taken from CDS44351/66

Nocturne in C minor, Op 48 No 1

composer
1841; published 1842

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: 8 minutes 4 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)
James Rhodes (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 opening of the C minor Nocturne immediately announces something out of the ordinary, with its pendulum-like bass and its melody which, punctuated by rests, is strongly rhetorical. Chopin was, according to his students, impossible to please when playing the opening phrase. Already in the first four bars he wanted to hear a question and an answer. The following section in C major, marked poco più lento and sotto voce, holds back the drama and keeps us in suspense. Gradually things build up with the help of octaves interjected like the rumbling of thunder in the background. When it all comes to a head, the main theme is presented again, but this time with great agitation and over a chordal, triplet accompaniment. Its passionate outburst is maintained almost to the very end, with only the last two bars fading away, but not dispelling the sense of tragedy.

from notes by Angela Hewitt © 2004

L’ouverture du Nocturne en ut mineur annonce d’emblée quelque chose de peu ordinaire, avec sa basse-balancier et sa mélodie qui, ponctuée de pauses, est fortement rhétorique. À en croire ses élèves, Chopin était toujours insatisfait de l’interprétation de la phrase d’ouverture. Dès les quatre premières mesures, il voulait entendre une question et une réponse. Marquée poco più lento et sotto voce, la section suivante, en ut majeur, retient le drame et nous tient en haleine. Les choses ses construisent peu à peu à l’aide d’octaves assenées en arrière-plan comme un grondement de tonnerre. Lorsque la situation devient critique, le thème principal est de nouveau présenté, mais cette fois avec une vive agitation et par-dessus un accompagnement monophonique, en triolets. Cet accès de passion est entretenu presque jusqu’à la toute fin, seules les deux dernières mesures s’affaiblissant, sans pour autant dissiper le sentiment de tragédie.

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

Der Anfang des c-Moll Nocturnes kündigt sofort etwas Ungewöhnliches an; die Bassstimme erscheint wie ein Pendel, wobei die von Pausen durchsetzte Melodie sehr rhetorisch ist. Chopins Schülern zufolge war es unmöglich, die Anfangsfigur für ihn befriedigend zu spielen. Schon in den ersten vier Takten wollte er eine Frage und eine Antwort hören. Die folgende Passage in C-Dur, mit Poco più lento und sotto voce überschrieben, ist eher undramatisch und baut so die Spannung auf. Nach und nach steigert sich das Ganze mit der Hilfe von Oktaven, die eingeworfen werden wie Donnergrollen in der Ferne. Wenn sich die Dinge zuspitzen, wird das Hauptthema nochmals präsentiert, diesmal jedoch unter großer Aufregung und über einer akkordischen Triolenbegleitung. Dieser leidenschaftliche Ausbruch wird fast bis zum Ende aufrechterhalten; nur die letzten beiden Takte lassen etwas nach, ohne jedoch dabei das tragische Moment zu schmälern.

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
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Chopin: Nocturnes & Impromptus
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Fire On All Sides
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Chopin: Nocturnes & Impromptus
This album is not yet available for downloadSACDA67371/22CDs Super-Audio CD — Deleted
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