Octo_Russ

Chopin - 24 Etudes [Magaloff]

Here's one of the original discs i started my Blog off with, being only the fourth disc to grace my Blog [4th January 2010], i try not to be influenced by previous posts, and to look at things anew, i remember years back playing a tape of this over the park, when i was at my old house, and in those days i was seriously influenced by the Louis Lortie disc on Chandos [my favourite Chopin 24 Etudes], and i felt Magaloff was doing things 'wrong', he was too slow, and a bit bumbling, now i think different, Magaloff's interpretation stands up on its own, having the benefit of a broad range of eleven different discs of these Etudes on disc, i now find wisdom in his readings, now i find him 'different' and not 'wrong'.

Nikita Magaloff died 18 years ago, he was born in Georgia / Russia, he recorded these Chopin Etudes in 1975 when he was 63 years old, i like these Philips Silver Line Classics, a nice reissue of some of the best of their older back catalogue, and this one has a nice calming picture [by Martin Kers], of trees and clouds, a fairly sparse and strange landscape.

This time listening i was struck by many beauties and insights, and the Etudes i found most compelling were 5, 12-13, 17-18 & 22-23, there's an abundance of invention from Chopin and Magaloff alike, whether in the legato wobble of No5, the nice left hand warmth of No13, the extra slow stutter of No17, the nice ring in the treble of No18, the somewhat lack of precision, yet abundance of passion of No22, or the fierce resolution of No23, there's lots to discover and enjoy.

Yet i found the very best experience to be with the turbulent Etude No12 [Op10/12], the very first note is like a magical 'hey presto, here i am'!, nice ring, nice attack, what an entrance! [and en-trance too!], the first bristling notes startle me, and repeat twice more [0:00-0:07], and then there's a huge treble to bass legato run virtually the whole length of the keyboard [0:08-0:16], where the left hand nicely ends bogged down into the muddy bass, this is the intro, and it's a stunner, the tune is hammered out in the right hand treble [0:16-0:30], while the left hand bass has these intense legato runs trying to escape the bass mud [0:28-0:33], this is the essence of the piece, the angry hammering right hand, while the broiling left hand that just can't sit still, agitates all over the bass notes [0:34-1:03], there's an extra angry and intense right hand table thumping [1:04-1:18], and then a huge legato run ripping from the treble to the bass, using the whole keyboard [1:18-1:26], where that whingeing left hand won't quiet down, the right hand then hammers out the tune in a staccato stutter [1:27-1:52], with some superb notes at [1:34-1:35], that lift the mesmerizing out of the great into the sublime, all the while the left hand is trying to escape it's sticky bass doom, there's another intense episode from the right hand [1:53-2:09], where it eventually quiets down, and the left hand momentarily breaks free of its bass [2:09-2:24], but the inevitable gravity sucks it back down, and then there's one last gasp huge treble to bass legato run [2:25-2:34], where the left hand suddenly dies in a couple of loud staccato heartbeats at the bottom of the keyboard!, it's a roller-coaster of a piece, there's a mini-universe packed into these two and a half minutes!, absolutely breathtaking!.

Here's Nikita Magaloff playing Etude No12 on YouTube.