Composer: Frédéric Chopin
Performer: Margarita Höhenrieder
Orchestra: Orchestra La Scintilla
Conductor: Riccardo Minasi
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Solo Musica
Catalogue: SM400
Release: 2022
Size: 2.35 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11, B. 53
01. I. Allegro maestoso
02. II. Romance. Larghetto
03. III. Rondo. Vivace
Mazurkas, Op. 24, B. 89
04. No. 1 in G Minor, Lento
05. No. 2 in C Major, Allegro non troppo
Mazurkas, Op. 17, B. 77
06. No. 4 in A Minor, Lento
Mazurkas, Op. 33, B. 115
07. No. 4 in B Minor, Mesto
Mazurkas, Op. 50, B. 145
08. No. 3 in C-Sharp Minor, Moderato
Mazurkas, Op. 30, B. 105
09. No. 2 in B Minor, Allegretto
Mazurkas, Op. 6, B. 60
10. No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor
Mazurkas, Op. 7, B. 61
11. No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Vivace
Mazurkas, Op. 67
12. No. 2 in G Minor, B. 167
Mazurkas, Op. 59, B. 157
13. No. 3 in F-Sharp Minor, Vivace
For years, Margarita Höhenrieder was searching for the authentic sound of Frédéric Chopin’s piano works. Which instrument of its time most convincingly reflected Chopin’s music? Chopin himself had given the answer in 1831: “Pleyel’s instruments are the nec plus ultra”! The choice for the recording therefore fell on a Pleyel fortepiano, built around 1855 in Paris and expertly restored using historical materials and methods. It is absolutely identical in construction to the instrument Chopin owned and thus represents an authentic sound testimony.
The recording location was also of particular importance: the Mazurkas were recorded on this instrument, in a room comparable to a salon from around the middle of the 19th century. The recording of the E Minor Concerto with the historical version by Jan Ekier then took place on another Pleyel of about the same year of construction, in the acoustically outstanding Oberstrass church in Zurich. Margarita Höhenrieder’s careful recreation of the authentic Chopin sound gives the listener highly interesting insights into music.