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Track(s) taken from CDS44351/66

Scherzo No 3 in C sharp minor, Op 39

composer
1839, begun in Majorca, completed in Nohant; dedicated to Adolf Gutmann

Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
Recording details: June 1992
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: 9 minutes 14 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

Stephen Hough (piano)
Nikolai Demidenko (piano)
James Rhodes (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)
Dissonance is again at the heart of the Third Scherzo, and even today the opening octaves can seem harshly novel and uncompromising. The principle theme was inspired by Adolf Gutmann, Chopin’s pupil who could – with a taste of karate – apparently punch a hole in a table. The contrasting chorale with its cascading reply may well echo a liturgical chant heard at the monastery in Valdemosa (where Chopin was a guest in 1842) and its final transformation and expansion in the coda is among Chopin’s most daring masterstrokes.

from notes by Bryce Morrison © 2004

La dissonance est à nouveau au cœur du Troisième Scherzo, et même de nos jours, les octaves initiales donnent l’impression d’une nouveauté dure et intransigeante. Le thème principal s’est inspiré d’Adolf Gutmann, un élève de Chopin qui parvenait apparemment à transpercer le bois des tables à main nue – un avant-goût du karaté. Le choral contrasté, avec ses réponses en cascades, pourrait être un écho d’un chant liturgique entendu au monastère de Valdemosa (où Chopin avait séjourné en 1842). Ses transformations et expansions finales dans la coda font partie des coups de génie les plus audacieux de Chopin.

extrait des notes rédigées par Bryce Morrison © 2004
Français: Isabelle Battioni

Die Dissonanzen spielen auch im Dritten Scherzo eine zentrale Rolle und auch heute können die Oktaven am Anfang des Stückes noch schroff, modern und unerbittlich klingen. Die Inspiration zu dem Hauptthema lieferte Adolf Gutmann, ein Schüler Chopins, der anscheinend – in Vorwegnahme von Karate – ein Loch in einen Tisch hauen konnte. Der kontrastierend angelegte Choral mit einer abwärts gerichteten Antwort könnte eine Nachahmung des liturgischen Gesangs sein, den Chopin 1842 in einem Kloster in Valdemosa zu hören bekam, und seine letzte Verwandlung und Ausdehnung in die Coda hinein gehört zu den kühnsten Meisterleistungen Chopins.

aus dem Begleittext von Bryce Morrison © 2004
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Other albums featuring this work

Chopin & Bach: Vitamin C
Studio Master: SIGCD851Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Chopin: Four Ballades & Four Scherzos
Studio Master: CDA67456Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Chopin: The Four Scherzi
CDH55181
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