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Track(s) taken from APR6009

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When Chopin is at his happiest, most outwardly serene, then, for the pianist, he is at his most treacherous. The Fourth Scherzo is the only one in a major key and its mercurial brilliance and whimsy are notoriously hard to control. Significantly, this Scherzo was Saint-Saëns’s favourite (it is, after all, the most urbane, Gallic and sparkling of the set) and both he and Pierné later used its potential to dazzling and mischievous effect in their G minor and C minor piano concertos. A later mix of duple and triple time evokes the A flat Waltz, opus 42, and a gentler, less animated syncopation characterizes the central più lento, a pensive and rhapsodic interlude after so much scintillating light and shade. The coda confirms the Scherzo’s overall high spirits and the final ‘flutter of silvery scale’ is a far cry from the grimly determined conclusion to the earlier Scherzos.

from notes by Bryce Morrison © 2004

Recording details: January 1953
Remington, USA
Release date: November 2011
Total duration: 10 minutes 53 seconds

Scherzo No 4 in E major, Op 54
composer
1842/3
Scherzo No 4 in E major Op 54  [10'53]  recorded 1953
Other recordings available for download
Stephen Hough (piano)
Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
Nikolai Demidenko (piano)
Vladimir Horowitz (piano)

Other albums featuring this work
'Chopin: Four Ballades & Four Scherzos' (CDA67456)
'Chopin: The Complete Works' (CDS44351/66)
'Chopin: The Four Scherzi' (CDH55181)
'Vladimir Horowitz – The complete solo European recordings' (APR6004)
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