Composer: Frédéric François Chopin
Performer: Louis Lortie
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN10943
Release: 2017
Size: 0.98 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Five Mazurkas, Op. 7
01. No. 1 in B-Flat Major
02. No. 2 in A Minor
03. No. 3 in F Minor
04. No. 5 in C Major
05. No, 4 in A-Flat Major
Deux polonaises, Op. 26
06. I. Allegro appasionato
Four Mazurkas, Op. 33
07. No. 1 in G-Sharp Minor
08. No. 2 in D Major
09. No. 3 in C Major
10. No, 4 in B Minor
Deux polonaises, Op. 26
11. II. Maestoso
Three Mazurkas, Op. 59
12. No. 1 in A Minor
13. No. 2 in A-Flat Major
14. No. 3 in F-Sharp Minor
15. Polonaise No. 5 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44
16. Allegro de concert in A Major, Op. 46
Louis Lortie’s Chopin series is achieving landmark status, as confirmed by the increasingly enthusiastic reviews of progressive volumes. This fifth one sumptuously highlights the Polish influences in Chopin’s music, offering gems from among the mazurkas and polonaises. Relatively brief in duration and simple in structure, the mazurkas reveal other aspect of Chopin’s music: quirky melodies, strangely chromatic harmonies, oddly accented rhythms, irregular phrase lengths, and wildly contrasting keyboard textures. They represent a fascinating part of Chopin’s output, for audiences and pianists alike. The vigour of the polonaises featured here, including the first two to be published, confirms Chopin as a radical, yet idiomatic transformer of the genre. The Allegro de concert, which Chopin was said to have kept for his projected return to ‘a free Warsaw’, is another link to his beloved country.