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Post by jandl100 on Sept 13, 2020 14:22:35 GMT
I can't say I'm a huge Chopin fan, but something about the 4 Ballades just hits the spot. Poetic and powerful by turns - and poetically powerful and powerfully poetic. Together, the 4 works, although written at different times, seem to work well together - a satisfying large scale, 4 movement piano work, although the relatively calm final Ballade may be better placed in 2nd or 3rd slot, but it does have a big finish! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballades_(Chopin)And for me at any rate, Yundi Li takes them to the next level. Utterly magnificent playing. He comes in for a fair bit of stick from some, and I must admit I have not been that taken by other things I have heard from him. But here - POW - he gets my vote! open.qobuz.com/album/0002894812446 |
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 13, 2020 14:45:53 GMT
Great stuff Jerry - agreed on Chopin and these Ballades!
Not listened to them in a long time so good to revisit. As I remember I have Ashkenazy on vinyl.
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 13, 2020 14:49:18 GMT
I also have Cyril Huve on Spotify to compare this to.
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Post by MartinT on Sept 13, 2020 16:11:40 GMT
Thanks, Jerry. I'm not a great Chopin fan so I'll approach these as unknowns.
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Post by Slinger on Sept 13, 2020 16:18:05 GMT
I've got these performed by Andrei Gavrilov, and approached them with some trepidation. When I was an engineer for BT, many moons ago (coincidentally I actually joined them 49 years ago today) I had a long rum of working Saturdays and Sundays in a particular building. The security guard there played nothing by bloody Chopin, at full volume, all day, which echoed wonderfully (NOT) down the stairwell and off of the concrete walls in the basement. It was absolute torture. Consequently, my view of Chopin's work was somewhat coloured, to say the least.
I played the disk from the start, which meant I heard the Piano Sonata #2 first. I enjoyed the quieter passages, appreciated the artistry, but ultimately gave it the thumbs down. It was much the same story for the Ballades, I'm afraid. I'm just not a fan of heavily percussive piano playing, and Chopin has, I'm afraid, largely been lost to me because of that. I just keep hearing those f*ck*ng echoes, even after what must be forty-some-odd years.
A tainted two from me for purely personal reasons, plus a bonus point for the Marche Funèbre, making 3/5
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 13, 2020 16:32:35 GMT
Great story Paul. Must have been the RUM what done it ... LOL.
Gavrilov was a player. Had a great way with Scriabin. Sadly not on Spoti - if on Qobuz check it out y'all.
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Post by jandl100 on Sept 13, 2020 19:29:41 GMT
Hah, yes, I have similar problems with Frank Sinatra - was my elder brother's favourite. F#ck me, I got fed up with it, and can't bear to listen even now well over half a century later!
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Post by MartinT on Sept 14, 2020 7:13:02 GMT
Actually, they are not bad at all, if not digestible in one long listen.
Yundi's playing seems appropriate to the music and the recording is fine. I'm going to give it 3/5 for no reason other than I will rarely choose to play them.
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Post by Pinch on Sept 14, 2020 22:07:23 GMT
Top marks from me! I'm rather partial to Chopin - one of my classical gateways - and I'm very fond of the Ballades in particular. As Jerry says, they work very well together. I actually have this disc in my library and really rate Yundi as a Chopin performer (his recordings of the Nocturnes are also excellent). There are moments in the Ballades where I might have preferred a touch more delicacy, but otherwise the performance is top notch. I let the whole thing go round three times while I exercised and ate dinner, now treating myself to the Nocturnes  |
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 16, 2020 22:48:15 GMT
First time listening to this pianist. His playing is admirably unsentimental and obviously has huge reserves of technique and power at his disposal. But I find on Ballade 1 it begins to grate with me after a while in much the same way that Yuja Wang used to a few years back. The relentless attacking of the keys, almost as if they are wild animals that need to be tamed under an iron and absolute will. It is too predictable and lacks guile.
Ballade 2 is of course much more subdued at the start but is actually so 'matter of fact', I don't really care what's happening and then comes the 'four horsemen of the apocalypse' - yikes, that gave me quite a jolt!
Ballade 3 comes as a bit of light relief in comparison and feels more successful in its shaping but I still feel it doesn't quite have the poignancy and lightness of touch; before long he can't resist going into overdrive mode again.
Ballade 4 suffers in the same way as 3 - it's almost as though there's an emotional detachment at times. Just occasionally you get some dynamics or phrasing that keep you interested. Then the volume gets cranked again - playing very loud in itself does not tell the story. I can see there is some fine writing here but I'm not engaged emotionally with the performance. The climax to the work comes as no surprise as it's all played the same way.
Certainly an interesting listen, Chopin on steroids, but not for me. I would give it a 2.
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Post by jandl100 on Sept 17, 2020 4:09:14 GMT
Interesting write up, Jules.
Made me ponder a bit.
Not to change my mind, but to wonder why I am so taken by the performance.
On consideration of your views, I guess (for me) he plays the Ballades almost as if they were 4 more Transcendental Studies by Liszt!
Not being, as previously noted, a huge Chopin fan maybe this made the music more interesting for me.
I did, fairly naturally, go on to listen to Yundi's Chopin Nocturnes album, but I didn't like it much and I would level the same kind of criticisms as you do for the Ballades.
_______
Anyway, thanks for the responses, folks.
Perhaps there's time for a 3rd Sept 2020 entry?
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 17, 2020 7:10:26 GMT
Yes a very Lisztian approach.
And yes, definitely time for another instalment!
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Post by MartinT on Sept 17, 2020 10:54:02 GMT
Go for it, Jerry. Always fun listening to recommendations.
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 17, 2020 17:35:03 GMT
On consideration of your views, I guess (for me) he plays the Ballades almost as if they were 4 more Transcendental Studies by Liszt! You have prompted me to do a mini survey of these! Masses to choose from of course since it's one of those works in which the pianist tries to prove their 'virtuosity'.  Will report back. |
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 17, 2020 19:43:38 GMT
Krystian Zimerman back in '87.
A near polar opposite of Yundi and another Chopin prize winner makes for an interesting comparison.
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Post by jandl100 on Sept 18, 2020 4:11:49 GMT
.... Hah! I have a mental image of an audience made up of terribly refined upper class ladies, all blinking back a tear and whispering to each other how terribly terribly refined it all is.  I did enjoy it, though. An amazing pianist. |
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