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Six Chopin Nocturne Cycles · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  Hello everyone. This is Jed Dissler and I welcome you to the Piano Maven, your friendly
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  podcast guide to piano recordings. I've been really touched and honored that so many of
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  you have been writing to me with your comments and feedback when I post episodes, which one
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  can download, stream, or subscribe to on most major podcast platforms from Apple and Spotify
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  to YouTube. Actually, the comments I've received largely have come from YouTube viewers and
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  subscribers. I had a request from several people to do a survey of recorded cycles devoted
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  to the Chopin Nocturnes. And I honestly hadn't thought about doing that just now because
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  we recently had an episode where I discussed various recorded cycles devoted to the Chopin
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  Etudes. And I didn't want to tilt the scales too much toward Chopin. I'm trying to cover
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  a lot of bases on this podcast, if you know what I mean. However, you can't deny that
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  Chopin is the center of the piano world's universe pretty much. And I wish I could remember
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  exactly that quote of Arthur Rubinstein. He said something to the effect of, when the
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  first notes of Chopin sound through the concert hall, there is a happy sigh of recognition.
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  The piano sounds more natural, the public listens more naturally. The quote was something
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  like that. I don't know, maybe I'm putting words into Rubinstein's mouth. If you know
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  that exact quote, please let me know in your comments. Anyway, I'm very happy to honor
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  your request to talk about the Chopin Nocturnes. I'm not going to talk about every Chopin Nocturne
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  cycle ever made. That would be totally insane. Well, maybe it wouldn't be insane for a piano
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  maven like you and I, but I think it might be better if we limit this discussion to a
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  handful. Let's say I'm going to take six different Chopin Nocturne cycles. I've chosen the ones
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  I'm going to talk about on account of their diversity in playing style, their diversity
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  of interpretive conceptions, and also that they represent several generations of pianists.
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  By the way, I'm going to save Arthur Rubinstein's three Chopin Nocturne cycles for a separate
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  episode simply because I've already devoted an episode to Rubinstein's three Chopin Mazurka
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  cycles, and I think it's only fair to make room for some other pianists. I'd like to
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  begin with one of the more interesting Chopin Nocturne cycles from the mono LP era. This
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  one features the Polish pianist Jan Smetterlin. It was recorded for Phillips in 1954, and
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  40 years later it came out on CD as part of the Phillips short-lived The Early Years reissue
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  series. Its most recent compact disc incarnation comes from Australian eloquence thanks to
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  that label's visionary reissue producer Cyrus Mayer Homgy, and he has resurrected so many
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  valuable recordings languishing in the vaults. But I've kept The Early Years reissue because
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  it has excellent booklet notes by James Methuen Campbell, who talks about how Smetterlin tended
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  to go his own way with Chopin's markings, often reversing the dynamics and alternating
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  articulations. In general, Smetterlin takes fast tempos. He's not an expansive or dreamy
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  Nocturne player by any means, and sometimes he can be a little too brisk for comfort,
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  such as in the A-flat Nocturne, Op. 32 No. 2, where the middle section just whizzes by
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  on a motorcycle in this recording at least. And also the pianist just speeds through the
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  E minor, Op. 72 No. 1 Nocturne's climaxes. It's a little bit disconcerting to my ears.
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  But I can forgive these occasional transgressions because the genius behind Smetterlin's Nocturne's
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  — and I use the word genius very carefully here, but I really mean it — is in how he
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  projects melodies. It's really kind of remarkable how he does this. Now, I'm going to quote
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  from my review of this recording for ClassicsToday.com because I really can't describe Smetterlin's
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  melodic projection any better than this. I wrote that,
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  Phrases transpire in conversational fashion, oblivious to bore lines, with nearly every
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  accent and dynamic inflection falling in an unexpected yet logical place. Each selection
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  bears this characteristic out. Memorable examples include Op. 15 No. 3's magically
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  voiced central chorale-like episode, the freedom from sentimentality he brings to the Op. 9
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  No. 2 E flat Nocturne, Op. 37 No. 2's delicately honed double notes, and the rarefied textural
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  layering he achieves in Op. 48 No. 2's final pages. Somehow, quoting from my review,
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  as I'm speaking those words, I think they look better on page than they sound spoken
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  out loud. Anyway, the point is that I come back to Jan Smetterlin's Chopin Nocturne's
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  pretty often, and every time I listen I always find something new to savor. Now, the Sonics
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  are a little bit boxy, even by 1954 mono standards, but Smetterlin's tonal shadings definitely
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  come across. However, if you want to have similar conceptions but in the hands of a
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  more modern-day Chopin stylist and in up-to-date digital engineering, I would recommend that
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  you check out Nelson Frere's Chopin Nocturne's cycle on DECA. Next, I want to talk about
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  a Chopin Nocturne cycle that has always seemed to fall between the cracks. It was released
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  in 1960, I think, originally on the EMI label, and it features the pianist Maura Limpeny.
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  My late friend Harris Goldsmith, who was a great critic and an excellent pianist, reviewed
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  the cycle when it first came out. He reviewed it for High Fidelity magazine, and he really
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  did not care for it. I've always admired the cycle. Like Jan Smetterlin, Maura Limpeny
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  always leaned toward faster tempos generally, but she adhered more to Chopin's markings
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  as far as tempo modifications were concerned. Like if you compare how she times the A-flat
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  Nocturne, Op. 32 No. 2's middle section, to Smetterlin kind of rushing through it, you'll
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  hear how Limpeny captures much more the music's almost balletic subtext. In fact, this Nocturne
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  is featured in the ballet Les Sulfides, which is the ballet based on Chopin piano pieces.
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  I also want to mention Maura Limpeny's drop, Dead Gorgeous, Chains of Trills, and the B-major
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  Op. 62 No. 1 Nocturne. Now, some of her performances, I have to admit, are a little glib and smoothed
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  over, but I do enjoy the cycle, and I'm happy to pull it down from my shelf every now and
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  then. It was reissued by Dutton on CD many years ago, and you might possibly be able
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  to find that through secondhand dealers. Oh yeah, it was also reissued on the Regis label,
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  coupled with Maura Limpeny's Chopin Preludes. That might be easier to source. However, there
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  was a vinyl reissue on the Classics for Pleasure label that contained ten of the Nocturnes,
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  and you can grab this release for free by going to the amazing Internet Archive website,
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  and I've posted a link in my episode notes, so you at least can sample some of the cycle.
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  However, when we look at the Chopin Nocturne cycles from the 1960s, there's one version
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  that continues to stand out above the others, and that is the cycle by the great Czech pianist
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  Ivan Morovin. It was originally issued on LP in the United States on Connoisseur Society.
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  Nonsuch reissued it on CD back in 1991, and then in 2015 the Superfun label brought out
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  a remastered version that probably has the best sound overall. There was a little less
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  tapest than on Nonsuch, and the piano's upper register is slightly brighter and more defined,
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  but honestly, the differences between Nonsuch and Superfun are so minimal that if you already
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  have the Nonsuch edition, you don't have to upgrade it. But what's more important is how
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  Ivan Morovin approaches these works, and the way he manages to be both refined and purposeful
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  at the same time. Let's use that B major, Op. 32 No. 1 Nocturne, again as an example.
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  Now Morovac is far more dramatic than Smetterlin or Limpini. Think of those intense, almost
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  heart-stopping stretto, those dynamic buildups that lead into pauses and the melodic line.
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  It's a performance that's dramatic without being vulgar or obvious. Oh, and by the way,
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  the last chord of this B major Nocturne is a B minor chord in the Ertext edition, yet
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  Morovac plays B major instead of B minor, and so did Arthur Rubinstein, incidentally. I
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  think it's a perverse textual decision in any case. But check out how Morovac plays
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  the popular F sharp major Nocturne, Op. 15 No. 2. In the central section, most pianists
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  emphasize the right-hand elaboration to the expense of the left hand, whereas Morovac
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  brings the bass lines to the fore. I think all of his interpretations are intrinsically
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  contrasted where every note counts for something. I should also mention that Morovac plays the
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  nineteen so-called standard Nocturnes, but he leaves out the posthumously published C
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  sharp minor Nocturne, which is a youthful composition that I don't find that interesting.
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  Yet so many younger pianists seem to think that this is the perfect encore, and it pops
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  up all the time in concerts. I have no idea why. And the set also does not include that
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  posthumously published Nocturne in C minor. But Claudio Arau's Nocturne cycle contains
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  all of the pieces in this genre of Chopin. This cycle was recorded for Phillips in 1978
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  in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the sonics capture Arau's rich and burnished sonority
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  in full splendor, which I think is helped by the Concertgebouw's wonderful acoustics.
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  Arau always considered the Nocturnes to be Chopin's most profound works, and he constantly
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  probes between the lines. His rebato is born out of bel canto traditions in terms of how
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  he influx phrases and how he resolves cadences. And the effect is very much akin to how Maria
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  Callas approached the big arias in Bellini and Donazzetti operas. I vaguely remember
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  that Harris Goldsmith described Arthur Rubinstein's stereo recordings of the Nocturnes as complacent
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  and kind of Mendelssohnian. I don't completely agree with that sentiment, by the way. Yet
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  there is not a complacent bone in the body of Claudio Arau's Chopin Nocturnes. He's
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  not out to please you or comfort you. And if Ivan Morovetz took the Nocturnes from the
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  Salon onto the concert stage, then I would say that Claudio Arau takes the Nocturnes
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  from the concert stage and puts them into the opera house. Now maybe you don't want
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  an imposing operatic diva in the Chopin Nocturnes of the Maria Callas or even Jesse Norman class.
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  Maybe you'd prefer the warmth or the lyrical intimacy of a great leader singer like Janet
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  Baker or Eli Ameling. And if that's what you prefer, then I can recommend the Chopin Nocturne
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  Cycle by the Brazilian pianist Nelson Guriner. I reviewed his Chopin Nocturne Cycle on the
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  Alpha label for ClassicsToday.com years ago, but I hadn't listened to it since then. And
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  I just reconnected with it and I really like it more and more. His phrasings and accentuations
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  always move over the bar lines and the rolling left-hand accompaniments always have vibrancy
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  and shape. Now you may not get the darkness and tragic undertones that others bring to
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  the C-sharp minor, Opus 27 No. 1 Nocturne's outer sections or to that tumultuous central
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  octave passage at the climax of the C minor Nocturne, Opus 48 No. 1. But that's a tiny
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  quibble. There's another more recent Chopin Nocturne Cycle also on Alpha that comes from
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  Bruno Riguto, and I hope I will have the opportunity to discuss that release in a later podcast,
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  especially because Riguto recorded the Nocturnes earlier for EMI, and it might be fun to compare
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  his two cycles. However, one of the most recent Chopin Nocturne cycles I've heard is unambiguously
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  reference worthy, and this cycle comes from pianist Stephen Hoff. It's on the Hyperion
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  label, and just everything about his playing seems ideal. Stephen Hoff applies rubato with
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  the utmost discretion, taste, and proportion, and he underlines Chopin's harmonic felicities
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  by way of the most subtle shifts in tone color and chord balances. And the way that he floats
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  contabile legato lines often gives the illusion that he's using more sustain pedal than he's
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  actually employing. This is finger legato technique at its most rarefied and masterful.
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  And I've seldom heard the double notes in the G major Nocturne, the Opus 37 No. 2, sound
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  so effortless and feathery, for lack of a better word. In my review of this cycle for
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  ClassicsToday.com, I wrote that Stephen Hoff struck a perfect balance between intelligence
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  and instinct, and that he projected plenty of imagination without spilling over ever
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  into contrivance. And there are bonus tracks too. In addition to the 21 Nocturnes, Stephen
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  Hoff presents a piece in C-sharp minor of anonymous authorship published in Russia under
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  Chopin's name. And then he gives an additional performance of the E-flat, Opus 9 No. 2, that
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  incorporates authentic ornamented textual variants. And Angela Hewitt also played these
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  variants in her Hyperion recording, incidentally. And I'm sure that hardcore piano geeks know
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  about, or maybe you've even heard, that old 78 with Raoul Kaszalski playing this Nocturne
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  with authentic variants. Or, as my late record collector friend Phil Stern used to say, he
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  plays authentic variants. So there we have it. Six diverse, yet I think equally compelling,
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  Chopin Nocturne cycles for your consideration. The pianists are Jan Smetrilin, Mor Limpini,
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  Ivan Morovitz, Claudio Orell, Nelson Goerner, and Stephen Hoff. This is Jed Disler, and
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  I thank you for checking out the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Please let your piano-loving friends, colleagues, and family members know about this podcast.
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  And I look forward to you and I being together next time for the next episode. Until then,
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  be well and stay safe.