Chopin - 24 Etudes [Gavrilov]Here's a set of the Chopin Etudes i've had for over 15 years, it's a very serviceable set, it's one of the first i bought, but it's been eclipsed by the likes of Lortie and Berezovsky, Gavrilov is impetuous, seemingly rushing into pieces with venom, also tripping himself up in certain areas, showy and extravagant in other areas, but then he stuns you with some virtuosity that silences you, other times i'm convinced he plays an Etude to try to create a world speed record, and yet in all of it there's revelations aplenty, a fantastic set to analyse.
Andrei Gavrilov is Russian, he'll be 56 next week, he's had a strange career, initially a virtuoso that burst onto the scene, his later career has been one of introspection, and trying to rediscover his earlier fame, he recorded this disc in 1985 & 1987.
