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Track(s) taken from CDA66597

Polonaise in B flat minor, KKIVa/5

composer
published in 1879; based on an air from Rossini's La gazza ladra

Nikolai Demidenko (piano)
Recording details: February 1992
St George's, Brandon Hill, United Kingdom
Release date: July 1992
Total duration: 4 minutes 56 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

Garrick Ohlsson (piano)

Reviews

‘You will be hard pressed to find playing of such super-fine precision and sensitivity. This is undoubtedly one of the most crystalline and exclusive Chopin recitals I have heard for some time. Such pianism forbids even whispered comparisons’ (Gramophone)

‘One of the finest pianists of our time’ (CDReview)
Polonaise No 15 in B flat minor was penned on the evening of 27 July 1826 – the day before Chopin’s departure for the spa town of Reinerz where he was to begin his summer holidays. He and a schoolfriend, Wilhelm Kolberg, had just been to a performance of Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra at the Warsaw Opera, an occasion recalled by the D flat trio (headed ‘Au revoir!’) which quotes one of Kolberg’s apparently favourite moments, the Act I cavatina ‘Vieni fra questa braccia’.

from notes by Ateş Orga © 1992

Chopin écrivit la Polonaise no15 en si bémol mineur pendant la soirée du 27 juillet 1826 – le soir de son départ pour Reinerz, ville d’eau où il devait passer ses vacances été. Il venait d’assister, avec son ami Wilhelm Kolberg, à une représentation de La Gazza Ladra de Rossini, à l’opéra de Varsovie. Des traces de cette occasion se retrouvent dans le trio en ré bémol (intitulé «Au revoir!») qui rappelle l’un des passages préférés de Kolberg, la cavatine de l’acte I «Vieni fra questa braccia».

extrait des notes rédigées par Ateş Orga © 1992
Français: Alain Midoux

Die Polonaise Nr.15 in b-Moll schrieb Chopin am Abend des 27. Juli 1826 nieder – also am Vorabend seiner Abreise nach Bad Reinerz, wo er seinen Sommerurlaub beginnen sollte. Er und ein Schulfreund namens Wilhelm Kolberg hatten soeben eine Vorstellung von Rossinis La Gazza Ladra am Warschauer Opernhaus besucht, ein Anlaß, an den das Trio in Des-Dur (mit der Überschrift „Au revoir!“) erinnert. Dort wird ein Moment zitiert, der Kolberg offensichtlich besonders gefallen hatte: die Kavatine „Vieni fra questa braccia“ aus dem I. Akt.

aus dem Begleittext von Ateş Orga © 1992
Deutsch: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller

Other albums featuring this work

Chopin: The Complete Works
CDS44351/6616CDs Boxed set (at a special price) — Download only
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