Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Click cover art to view larger version
Track(s) taken from CDS44351/66

Polonaise in G flat major, KKIVa/8

composer
1829; published in 1870

Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
Recording details: August 1993
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: 7 minutes 10 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

Nikolai Demidenko (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)
Polonaise No 16 in G flat major dates from the first half of 1829, sometime before Chopin left Warsaw for Vienna. First engraved in 1870, it was a work known to Chopin’s sister Louise (who listed it in her manuscript catalogue of his compositions). Niecks, however, felt compelled to question its authenticity: ‘Nothing but the composer’s autograph [lost] would convince one of the genuineness of the piece.’ By comparison with Chopin’s earlier attempts at the form, its ideas seem relatively leisurely and less short-winded.

from notes by Ateş Orga © 1992

Polonaise no16 en sol bémol majeur date de la première moitié de 1829, quelque temps avant le départ de Chopin de Varsovie pour Vienne. Cette polonaise fut gravée pour la première fois en 1870; la sœur de Chopin, Louise, la connaissait (et l’inscrivit dans son catalogue manuscrit de ses compositions). Niecks se sent pourtant obligé de douter de son authenticité: «Nous ne pourrions être persuadés de l’authenticité de ce morceau que par l’autographe [perdu] du compositeur.» Si on le compare aux essais précédents du compositeur dans cette forme, ses thèmes semblent relativement pondérés et moins précis.

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

Die Polonaise Nr.16 in Ges-Dur entstammt der ersten Hälfte des Jahres 1829, einige Zeit vor Chopins Übersiedelung aus Warschau nach Wien. Das 1870 erstmals in Druck gegangene Werk war Chopins Schwester Louise bekannt (sie führte es in ihrem handschriftlichen Katalog seiner Werke auf). Niecks sah sich dennoch genötigt, seine Authentizität anzuzweifeln: „Nichts als die [verloren gegangene] Urschrift des Komponisten könnte einen von der Echtheit des Stücks überzeugen.“ Im Vergleich zu Chopins früheren Versuchen mit der Form wirken die Motive dieser Polonaise relativ gemächlich und weniger kurzatmig.

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

Other albums featuring this work

Chopin: Demidenko plays Chopin
CDA66597Download only
Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...