Some weeks ago, I wrote on the connection between Chopin Piano Concerto #1 and the high acclaimed show "The Pianist" which was played towards the end of the show. Chopin Nocturne No. 20 in C# minor Opus Posth is the other piece which the famous Polish director Roman Polanski has chosen for the film. Not a surprising move that both pieces are by Chopin who is Polish like he is. In fact the show centered around Polish/Jewish life in Nazi occupied Warsaw during the Second World War. There were some debate about how many Nocturnes Chopin actually wrote and it would be 18, 20 or 21 depending on which persuasion you belong to.
The first 18 Nocturnes were common ground held by all and sundry as being Chopin. However, some question marks were placed over Nocturnes 19, 20 and 21 for a few reasons. Firstly, there was no solid evidence beyond any shadow of doubt that Chopin has endorsed them. Secondly, there is some circumstantial evidence based on the style and third party accounts on these pieces that point to him being the composer. Because of this debate, these 3 Nocturnes were assigned larger numbers although they point to an earlier conception but the gestation was most probably long and the delivery of dubious nature.
This piece was conceived as a Piano Nocturnes but has been delivered in a few arrangements like and arrangement for Piano and Violin by the famous violinist Nathan Milstein that many are very critical of and it is also the shortest clocking about 3 and a half minutes compared a shade above 4 minutes for the original. This could have been due to the limitation of 78 rpm LPs that could not accommodate pieces beyond 4 minutes. Craig Leon also did a concerto for violin ( and perhaps the harp should also be acknowledged as it is fairly visible throughout although mainly as apogees )arrangement with an orchestra. In this concerto like arrangement, the orchestra party is very subdued so I would not dare call it a concerto but only concerto like.
The piece is definitely very melancholic in nature throughout that suddenly transforms into a major keyed chorus pointing to lushness and hope before falling back to melancholic minor again. Chopin like some composers like Haydn like to have a false ending and in this piece, it happens roughly just after the 2 minute mark. It is not uncommon to have some audience starting to clap at this juncture. If you do not want to be embarrassed or be a faux culture vulture, beware of this bear trap but one can always give an excuse that Chopin is not on my radar.
For this review, I listened to five different versions; 3 were based on original piano only arrangements played by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Garrick Ohlssohn and Yundi Li all of which are very renowned pianist with Ohlssohn and Li having some claim to being Chopin sub-specialist especially Ohlsson who has recorded the entire Chopin collection; Nathan Milstein arrangement played by violinist Ruggiero Ricci and pianist Ernest Lush which is also not small standing in classical music fame during their era; last but not the least, we have an violin Joshua Bell that some critics has labelled as having gone to the dark side in Star Wars speak as being a classical crossover artist with Craig Leon himself conducting the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
I have always loved Ashkenazy both as a pianist as well as a conductor and his handling of this piece is very emotive and involved and yet way ward technically given how equally he has executed the odd numbered notes like the triplets and thrills. For Ohlsson's version, you should pay pay very close attention to volumetric control for a piece that has many single noted accents. His control of the sustain pedal is also extraordinary well done so that there is enough of it to create legato like without sounding muddied. What surprise me most was Yundi Li which I have commented as normally being overly zealous but he showed control and maturity in this piece. The album is very recent as it was only recorded in November 2009 and January 2010 in Zurich. Perhaps he could have matured with age or the cold wintry months has evoked his melancholicism into the piece.
Joshua Bell's playing concerto like arrangement was hard to fault and yet difficult to put a handle on what was exceptional. The most obvious grace so how well Craig Leon controlled an almost oblivion to let the violin and harp shine in the piece and rightly so. Although the recording quality of the playing by Ruggiero Ricci of Nathan Milstein arrangement together with Ernest Lush was my favorite although the background hiss is visible in these older recording. Ricci's bowing was as if the bow was an extension of his hands tugging at his own heart strings. I am now a little confused if Chopin intended this piece for the piano only or transfer-ably between the piano and violin as a piano does not have the legato of a violin. The violin on the other hand does not have the overlapping sustain and reverb effect possible in a piano
Enough comments about the pieces and now for those who might like to have the exact recordings that I used:
1. Ultimate Chopin 5 CD set - CD3 Track 6 - Vladimir Ashkenazy - Decca 475 8046
2. Chopin the Complete Works by Garrick Ohlsson 16CD set - CD 9 Track 9 - Hyperion CDS44351/66
3. Frederic Chopin - Complete Nocturnes - Yundi Li - 2 CD set - CD2 Track 8 - EMI Classics 5 099960 839121
4. The Essential Joshua Bell - 2 CD set - CD1 Track 3 - Sony/BMG 0 886970 741620
5. Virtuoso Violin - Ruggeiro Ricci - 2 CD set - CD1 Track 13 - Decca 458 191-2
Happy listening. Cheers Pete aka lkypeter
Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye