Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Chopin Mazurka Cycle Madness Part 1

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Chopin Mazurka Cycle Madness Part 1 · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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We are about to embark on a journey through Chopin
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mazurka cycles on disc, meaning pianists who
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have recorded the complete mazurkas. Now, of
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course, there are many individual albums or series
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of recordings with pianists who played selected
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numbers of mazurkas. And some of these belong
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in any serious mazurka collection. And we will
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get around to talking about these in good time.
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But with the Warsaw Chopin competition up ahead,
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just around the corner, in fact, I thought we
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could do something that's both fun and ambitious.
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And by the way, on my radio show, Between the
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Keys, I am devoting a whole bunch of programs
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to the complete Chopin mazurkas, with each mazurka
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played by a different pianist and without repeating
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any pianist over the course of these programs.
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Remember when we went through all 32 Beethoven
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sonatas last January, where I recommended two
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different recordings for each sonata without
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repeating a pianist? Well, on Between the Keys,
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we're doing that with the Chopin mazurkas. But
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here on the Piano Maven, we're going to wind
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our way through Chopin mazurka cycles for three
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episodes. Now, just how complete is complete,
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you might ask. In many cases, a pianist will
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view the complete cycle as the 51 mazurkas that
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were both. A, published in Chopin's lifetime,
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and B, affixed with an opus number, which include
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the posthumously published mazurkas of opus 67
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and opus 68. This is pretty much the quote -unquote
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Chopin mazurka canon, but actually there are
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at least eight opuses. other mazurkas by Chopin
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that were posthumously published. Most of these
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I think he wrote when he was in knee pants or
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maybe even in diapers, if they had diapers back
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in 1814 or whenever. Now, for example, Arthur
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Rubinstein stuck to the traditional 51 mazurkas
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for his three recorded cycles. And I have talked
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about them on this podcast, but it's good to
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reiterate. It was the HMV labels producer and
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A &R man, Fred Gaisberg, who asked Arthur Rubinstein
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to make the first integral Chopin mazurka cycle
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back in the late 1930s. And at first, Rubinstein
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hesitated, but then as he read through the whole
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batch, he discovered one treasure after another.
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So he decided, yeah, sure, I'll do all the mazurkas
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for you, and the rest was history. Rubinstein
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tends to take fast tempos in these early recordings,
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and sometimes he can be a little slapdash, as
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if you're listening to a great pianist who's
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also a great sight reader. But I do love the
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spontaneity and the genuine sense of discovery
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that comes across in these recordings. When Rubinstein
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remade the mazurkas on mono LPs in the early
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1950s, he was more meticulous technically and
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musically this time. But there still is that
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quality of athleticism. prevails. The sonics
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are kind of dry and up close and a little twangy,
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which was typical of RCA Victor's Hollywood studio
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piano recordings made in the late 40s and early
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1950s. But you do get sonic improvement when
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Rubinstein records the Chopin Mazurkas for a
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third and final time in late 1965 and early 1966
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in stereo. And by then he was the grand old man
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of the piano, and he's in a more reflective mood
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and perhaps more Germanic than Slavic in attitude.
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Yet there's an attention to detail here that's
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not present. in the two earlier editions, and
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a real sense of where the lines are moving. And
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Rubinstein takes great care to articulate Chopin's
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markings on faith, but without being pedantic
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about it. Now let's talk about a good friend
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of Arthur Rubinstein, the pianist Nikita Magalov.
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He recorded the mazurka cycle twice. He did the
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51 mazurkas for Decca. in 1956 in stereo, and
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then he did the truly complete mazurkas in the
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mid -1970s for his Phillips cycle that took in
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Chopin's complete solo piano works. In his book,
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The Collectors Chopin and Schumann, Harold C.
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Schoenberg dismissed Nikita Magalov's mazurkas
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as being, quote -unquote, tame, lacking intention,
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and tonal resource. You know, I don't agree with
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that at all. First of all, Nikita Magalov knows
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how to shape melodies as well as anyone, and
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his rubatos always feel natural. The phrasing
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and accentuation always underline Chopin's radical
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harmonic ideas, and the ornaments are meticulous
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and consistent. Now, when Magalov made the mazurkas
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for a second time on Philips, his playing gained
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some expressive dimension, and the sonics are
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a little warmer and more resplendent on Philips.
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But I do like the deco recordings, and you can't
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deny that Nikita Magalov was as polished and
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stylish a mazurka player as anyone. The Decca
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cycle came out on Australian Eloquence and also
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on Japanese Decca on CD. I don't know if these
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editions are still in print or not. I do have
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the Japanese one in my collection. I didn't get
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the Eloquence one. In 1958, the Polish pianist
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Ryszard Bakst recorded the full set. of Mazurkas
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for the Polish Musa label. And these recordings
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later came out on Westminster. And you can find
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them on YouTube. But there's also a transfer
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on CD published by the Forgotten Records label.
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I suspect that these transfers come from pristine
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vinyl copies. don't have them in my collection,
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actually. Richard Bakst was highly respected
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as a teacher. His training was Russian, actually.
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He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Konstantin
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Igumnov and Heinrich Neuhaus, and eventually
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he emigrated from Poland to Great Britain, and
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he taught for years at the Royal College of Music
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in Manchester. I really love this mazurka cycle,
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actually, and it should be better known. It was
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pretty well recorded for its day, and his playing
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is technically superb and idiomatic all the way.
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And he especially revels in the more boisterous
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mazurkas, but he understands the introspective
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ones as well. And the rubato has a natural ebb
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and flow. And you can tell that Reichardt -Bach's
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test truly internalized this music. In the very
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next year, 1959, another Polish pianist was invited
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to record all the mazurkas for the Musa label.
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And this was the pianist Henrik Stompka. He was
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born in 1901 and he passed away in 1964. I am
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not really crazy about this mazurka cycle because
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I think his intimate and small -scaled... playing
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sometimes seems kind of casual, like he's strumming
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through the music rather than interpreting it.
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And he's not the greatest colorist in the world.
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When the Chinese pianist Fu Tsong won the special
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Mazurka Prize in the 1955 Warsaw Competition,
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The news got around quickly, and critics started
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to fawn over him, and understandably so, because
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he was the real deal when it came to mazurkas.
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He recorded a series of selected mazurkas for
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Westminster, and then in the early 19... 80s,
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I believe. I'm not sure of the exact date. He
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did set down the entire Mazurka cycle, and it
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was published on CD by Sony Classical. And then
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it was reissued in that Sony Classical box set
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that I annotated, actually. And it contained
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all of Futsong's Chopin recordings released by
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Columbia or CBS or other labels associated with
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CBS. Anyway, Futsong's mazurka cycle is forceful
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and it's always creative. You get lots of rubato
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and lots of elongated beats. You get wide dynamic
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extremes and outsized accents. And he also likes
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interesting pedal effects, and sometimes he uses
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slight blurring where he will momentarily blend
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harmonies. Vladimir Horowitz was fond of that
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kind of pedal manipulation. And often when phrases
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repeat, Futsong will change his voicing or his
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point of emphasis. I have to be honest when I
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say that I can only take Futsong's hyper -detailed
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mazurkas in small doses, maybe two or three,
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four perhaps at a time. And also the sonics for
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this cycle are rather harsh and strident, which
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doesn't really help. But he certainly is an interesting
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mazurka player, that's for sure. So now let's
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talk about... the two other pianists who got
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lots of attention in the 1955 Warsaw competition
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because they were the first and second prize
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winners. First, we will talk about the second
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place winner, who really should have been the
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first prize winner, Vladimir Ashkenazi. Now,
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he recorded Chopin's complete solo piano works
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over a period of... decade, give or take a few
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years, for the Decca label. And these discs originally
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presented the works of Chopin in reverse chronological
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order, except for the etudes, which were all
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on one disc. Anyway, by the early 80s, Ashkenazi
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was concentrating on the earlier youthful works,
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basically the bottom of the barrel. But when
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compact discs first started to appear on the
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market, the Ashkenazi Chopin recordings all came
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out on CD by genre, so you'd get all of the waltzes,
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all of the nocturnes, and all of the mazurkas
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on separate issues. These mazurkas were actually
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recorded over the course of many years in different
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venues, but they are very consistent, artistically
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speaking, and very thoughtfully detailed and
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quite diverse in character. The 1955 Warsaw First
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Prize winner was Adam Horovatsyets, and he recorded
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tons of Chopin for Phillips in the 1960s, including
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maybe about half of the Mazurkas, but he didn't
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do the whole cycle. The whole cycle from him
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would have to wait until the Frederick Chopin
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Institute in Warsaw issued a full mazurka cycle
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with Horovatsyets in 2011. And these are terrific
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recordings, and everything just comes together
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for him. These are idiomatic, personal, seasoned,
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and experienced interpretations whose distinctive
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qualities I think are better heard than described.
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Although the physical discs do not seem to be
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in print anymore, I noticed that you can download
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this cycle in MP3 format for a very cheap price,
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so I say go for it. Oh, you know, I almost forgot
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to mention another Mazurka cycle from the 1950s,
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and this is with the pianist Nadia Reisenberg.
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It first came out on Westminster, and then it
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was reissued in an audiophile cassette format
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from Connoisseur Society, partnering with NSYNC
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Laboratories. I actually had those years ago.
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But then the Bridge label remastered Reisenberg's
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Westminster Chopin recordings for CD. I reviewed
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this collection for classicstoday .com, and if
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you don't mind, I'm just going to read from my
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review about Nadia Reisenberg's Chopin. I wrote
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the following. Compare it to Rubinstein's natural
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singing tone in Sprinting Elan. Reisenberg's
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mazurkas generally are more angular and hard
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-edged, but not without poetic reserves. Notwithstanding
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occasional rhythmic stiffness, Reisenberg is
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sympathetic toward the wide range of moods and
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styles that Chopin brought to the mazurka idiom.
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She plays down Op. 24 No. 4's inherent athleticism
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in order to let the contrapuntal writing sink
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in. Yet she relishes the elemental swagger of
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opus 56 number 2's bass lines and the posthumous
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C major's quirky modality. The pianist delivers
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the goods when the music calls for lilt and delicacy,
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such as in opus 17 number 4 and opus 33 number
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4. as well as an eccentric detail or two, such
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as the strange right -hand arpeggiations in Op.
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56 No. 1 that nearly throw the left -hand melody
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off kilter. So, basically, that's another interesting
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mazurka cycle to check out, if not necessarily
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one's first choice. I'm going to pass over the
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mid -1950s Chopin mazurkas with pianist Samson
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François because they're simply just uneven.
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Although there are some strikingly individual
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readings here and there, but I don't think there
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are enough interesting readings to recommend
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it wholeheartedly. But the mazurka cycle recorded
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in the late 1950s and early 1960s for Phillips
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by Alexander Uninsky, I think is quite underrated
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to my mind and my ears. He had a beautiful singing
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tone and a real innate understanding of the mazurka
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idiom. And these came out. In a Philips Duo reissue
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that was coupled with the Chopin Impromptus,
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you can still find second -hand copies fairly
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easily. Now, the Polish pianist Jan Ekier is
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best known for editing the Chopin National Edition,
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which is the printed edition of Chopin's music
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that is recommended by the Warsaw Chopin Competition.
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Équier lived from 1913 until 2014. He died shortly
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before his 101st birthday, actually. He recorded
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the Chopin Mazurkas for Musa in 1987 on two CDs.
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I cannot say that I've heard the entire cycle
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and I never own the CDs, but I have dipped into
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some of the cycle as posted on YouTube. And what
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I've heard... generally find to be very capable
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playing, but there's no poetry, there's no charm.
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It tends to be literal, and there's not much
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of a dynamic range, and the sound quality is
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also a little strident on the basis of what I've
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heard in the YouTube uploads. Again, I don't
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have the original CDs, but I have a feeling this
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is not. you know, the greatest Chopin -Mazurka
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cycle in the history of Western civilization.
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Now let's go back to the early 1960s, and Alexander
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Brelovsky, who was born in Kiev in 1896, and
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he died in New York in 1976. He was a Chopin
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specialist, and by and large, his Early recordings
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on 78s from the 1920s and early 1930s are his
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best ones, but by the time of his 1950 Chopin
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recordings for RCA Victor, he had become really
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crude and unmusical. A friend of mine said that
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he and his pianist colleagues would call him
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Alexander Braylousy. And Brelovsky's stereo Columbia
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Chopin recordings, I think, are even worse, so
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far as the Chopin preludes and waltzes and B
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minor sonata are concerned. I mean, these are
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just horrible. Now, the mazurkas can absorb a
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wide variety of interpretive styles, as I've
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said. So, in this sense, Brelovsky's caustic
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and angular and rather gruff -toned conceptions,
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can be convincing. I mean, you don't need color
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and charm all the time in the mazurkas, and sometimes
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Burlowski's harsh tone and hard -hitting way
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with the mazurka can be the perfect antidote
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to a pianist who has flaccid rhythm and no sense
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of shaping the music. But, you know, I would
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only listen to a few of these at a time. Anyway,
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for our next episode, we will continue talking
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about more Chopin mazurka cycles, getting into
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recordings from more recent decades, I promise.
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This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
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to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
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to piano recordings. Thank you so much for listening,
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and I look forward to being with you next time.