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

Nocturne in B flat minor, Op 9 No 1

composer
1830/1; published in 1832; dedicated to Camille Pleyel

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: 6 minutes 38 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)

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 Nocturne in B flat minor is sombre and plaintive, though Chopin ends the piece in major mode. The middle section is the most original: a melody presented in octaves with startling and rapid changes of harmony. It builds up to a pedal point (shadows of Bach) where for sixteen bars the harmony stays in D flat major, then chromatically returns to the tonic key. Sonority is of crucial importance here.

from notes by Angela Hewitt © 2004

Le Nocturne en si bémol mineur, est sombre et plaintif, quoique terminé en majeur. Sa section centrale, la plus originale, est une mélodie présentée en octaves avec de saisissants et rapides changements d’harmonie, qui se développe jusqu’à une pédale (l’ombre de Bach plane) où, pendant seize mesures, l’harmonie reste en ré bémol majeur, avant un retour chromatique à la tonique. La sonorité est, ici, cruciale.

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

Das Nocturne in b-Moll ist düster und klagend angelegt, obwohl es in Dur endet. Der Mittelteil ist besonders originell: es handelt sich hier um eine Melodie, die in Oktaven dargestellt wird und in der schnelle Harmoniewechsel vorkommen. Das Ganze steigert sich zu einem Orgelpunkt (der Einfluss Bachs), wo die Harmonie 16 Takte lang in Des-Dur verweilt und dann chromatisch zur Tonika zurückkehrt. Klangfülle ist hier von besonderer Wichtigkeit.

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
Chopin: Nocturnes
CDD220132CDs Dyad (2 for the price of 1) — Last few CD copies remaining
Chopin: Nocturnes & Impromptus
Studio Master: CDA67371/22CDsStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Chopin: Nocturnes & Impromptus
This album is not yet available for downloadSACDA67371/22CDs Super-Audio CD — Deleted
Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...