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 CDA67849

Waltz in A flat major, Op 69 No 1

composer
1835; Waltz No 9, sometimes called Valse de l'adieu

Stephen Hough (piano)
Recording details: October 2010
Concert Hall, Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: August 2011
Total duration: 3 minutes 0 seconds

Cover artwork: Black and White (1960/1). Ellsworth Kelly (b1923)
The Art Institute of Chicago, restricted gift of Mr and Mrs Arnold H Maremount / Photograph by Grant Hiroshima
 

Other recordings available for download

Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
Pavel Kolesnikov (piano)

Reviews

‘Launching his latest album with the earliest of waltzes to which Chopin gave an opus number, Stephen Hough sets a sparkling tone for what follows on this altogether brilliant disc … Hough is a pianist with all the elegance, wit and virtuosity required for these pieces, yet he also finds the deep vein of melancholy that runs through many of them’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Hough's decision to record the eight published waltzes in chronological order allows us to gain a feel for Chopin's glorious development in this genre … essential listening’ (The Observer)

‘Chopin’s waltzes are salon pieces, but always more than salon pieces, and Hough brings an astonishing range of touch to them. All those sophisticated inner parts and harmonic shifts are brought out with the greatest insouciance and style’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Hough's playing has such authority and panache, its balance between virtuosity and vividly communicated expression so finely judged, that every perfectly scaled moment is as intensely realised as every other. Few other pianists around today play Chopin with as much understanding and poised mastery as this’ (The Guardian)

‘Every [Waltz] conveys the feeling of bodies in motion, skirts twirling, and hearts intertwined … you don’t just hear Hough’s fingers; you hear his soul … the Minute Waltz contains one of the best melting moments of all; I could feel my knees giving way … I knew I’d never get my shins kicked, or an ache in the heel: I was dancing with Chopin and one of the world’s top pianists’ (The Times)

‘The leading British virtuoso has championed the byways of the piano literature since his award-winning Hummel concertos disc for Chandos. That he is also the most compelling interpreter of the mainstream classics is demonstrated by this winning collection of the 17 canonical masterpieces—and a handful of "encores" … his delicious lilt and rubato always seem perfectly judged, and he sweeps us off our feet with the twinkle-fingered brilliance of his dashing F major waltz … after the whirlwind merry-go-round of Chopin's imaginary ballroom, he sends us off to bed with a reposeful nocturne (Op 9 No 2)—a delightfully thoughtful touch to crown a mesmerising collection’ (The Sunday Times)
An act of social generosity may have prompted Chopin’s initial foray into the impromptu genre, but this was not the only genre in which he was motivated to behave in this way. He particularly enjoyed giving manuscripts of his waltzes as gifts, and because of this withheld from publication more than half of the waltzes that he composed. Chopin presented manuscripts of the three waltzes on this recording to multiple acquaintances (we know of at least three manuscripts of Op 69 No 1, and two each of Op 70 No 3 and the Waltz in A flat major, KKIVa/13). He initially gave a manuscript of the Waltz in A flat major, Op 69 No 1, to Maria Wodzińska, to whom he was briefly engaged. The chromatically decorated melodies of this waltz convey an air of melancholy that is easy to associate with personal loss, but whatever personal memories may have been attached to the origins of the work did not prevent Chopin from later giving manuscripts of it as gifts to Eliza Peruzzi and Charlotte de Rothschild.

from notes by Jeffrey Kallberg © 2019

C’est un geste de générosité en société qui suscita l’incursion initiale de Chopin dans le genre de l’impromptu, mais ce n’est pas le seul genre dans lequel il fut incité à se comporter de cette manière. Il aimait particulièrement donner des manuscrits de ses valses en cadeau et c’est la raison pour laquelle il refusa de publier plus de la moitié des valses qu’il composa. Chopin offrit les manuscrits des trois valses enregistrées ici à de multiples personnes de sa connaissance (on connaît au moins trois manuscrits de l’op.69 n° 1 et deux de l’op.70 n° 3 et de la Valse en la bémol majeur, KKIVa/13). Il donna d’abord un manuscrit de la Valse en la bémol majeur, op.69 n° 1, à Maria Wodzińska à qui il fut brièvement fiancé. La décoration chromatique des mélodies de cette valse traduit une certaine mélancolie que l’on peut aisément associer à un chagrin personnel, mais quels que soient les souvenirs personnels liés aux origines de cette œuvre, ils n’empêchèrent pas Chopin de la donner plus tard en cadeau à Eliza Peruzzi et Charlotte de Rothschild.

extrait des notes rédigées par Jeffrey Kallberg © 2019
Français: Marie-Stella Pâris

Zunächst war es seine Großzügigkeit, die Chopin zu dem Genre des Impromptus führte, doch zeigte er sich nicht nur hier so generös. Es bereitete ihm besondere Freude, Manuskripte seiner Walzer zu verschenken, weshalb er über die Hälfte seiner Walzer nicht veröffentlichen ließ. Chopin vermachte die Manuskripte von drei hier eingespielten Walzern an mehrere Bekannte (es sind mindestens drei Manuskripte von op. 69 Nr. 1 überliefert, sowie jeweils zwei von op. 70 Nr. 3 und von dem Walzer in As-Dur, KKIVa/13). Maria Wodzińska, mit der er für kurze Zeit verlobt war, erhielt als Erste ein Manuskript des Walzers As-Dur, op. 69 Nr. 1. Die chromatisch verzierten Melodien dieses Werks vermitteln eine gewisse Melancholie, die sich durchaus mit persönlichem Verlust in Verbindung bringen lassen. Welche Erinnerungen jedoch mit diesem Werk für Chopin zusammenhängen mochten, sie hinderten ihn nicht daran, Manuskripte davon später sowohl Eliza Peruzzi als auch Charlotte de Rothschild zu schenken.

aus dem Begleittext von Jeffrey Kallberg © 2019
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Other albums featuring this work

Chopin: Impromptus, waltzes & mazurkas
Studio Master: CDA68273Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Chopin: The Complete Waltzes
CDH55381 Piano albums for £8.00
Chopin: The Complete Works
CDS44351/6616CDs Boxed set (at a special price) — Download only
Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...