I bought this disc in a second-hand music shop in London in 2003, i love the Chopin Etudes, my second favourite Classical work [Schubert's Impromptus are first], but when i saw this disc, i had never heard of Yokoyama, and it's probably a disc especially made for the Japanese market, and of course i couldn't resist a new set, i'm glad i snapped this up, it's certainly one of my favourite versions of the Chopin Etudes, here's a list of my top nine from most favourite,
Lortie and Berezovsky are head and shoulders above everyone else, this list makes me realize that i need to get and hear Pollini's account, Yokoyama sits at number 4, he is certainly a fine Pianist who serves Chopin very well, it's a shame his other Japanese recordings are not readily available in the West.
Yukio Yokoyama is Japanese, he is now 41, he made this recording in 1992 when he was 21, the booklet cover shows Yokoyama standing in front of his piano, hands in pockets.
On this listen, the Etudes that i found the most revelatory were 1, 4-5, 12 & 23-24, here's a synopsis of each Etude,
Etude 1 - a wonderful start to the set, so relentless, Yokoyama gets the the treble surge just right, the sound of the piano is fantastic, i love the way the bass notes are hammered out, and the ending is nice, those treble notes have a sort of 'end of the day' feel to them.
Etude 4 - Yokoyama throws himself into this one with laser like precision, not as good as Murray Perahia, the lovely way that the right hand plays legato, while the left plays staccato, it's a study in mirror opposites.
Etude 5 - the legato section is played with aplomb, it's a piece that's easy to 'jazz up', and yet i find that if it's played 'straight', then you really get the Chopin in the piece rather than the performer.
Etude 12 - a nice start, a shocking and startling smash of notes, left hand bass goes up and down like waves on the sea, he gets a bit too staccato in places, and doesn't quite pull it off.
Etude 23 - Yokoyama gets the prelude right, and comes in hard with the explosion, on a par with Op10/1, again relentless, lovely treble notes, it's good to have a piano / recording toned just right, lovely low growl in the bass near the end, [this Etude is probably the highlight of my listen].
Etude 24 - sounds somewhat subdued, doesn't have the same oompff as Op10 1 & 12, and yet it's still really compelling.
The links to each Etude are to performances on YouTube of Yokoyama playing, though they're recorded fairly quiet on there.
1 - Louis Lortie
2 - Boris Berezovsky
3 - Nikolai Lugansky
4 - Yukio Yokoyama
5 - Nikita Magaloff
6 - Andrei Gavrilov
7 - Murray Perahia
8 - Giorgia Tomassi
9 - Vladimir Ashkenazy
Etude 1 - a wonderful start to the set, so relentless, Yokoyama gets the the treble surge just right, the sound of the piano is fantastic, i love the way the bass notes are hammered out, and the ending is nice, those treble notes have a sort of 'end of the day' feel to them.
Etude 4 - Yokoyama throws himself into this one with laser like precision, not as good as Murray Perahia, the lovely way that the right hand plays legato, while the left plays staccato, it's a study in mirror opposites.
Etude 5 - the legato section is played with aplomb, it's a piece that's easy to 'jazz up', and yet i find that if it's played 'straight', then you really get the Chopin in the piece rather than the performer.
Etude 12 - a nice start, a shocking and startling smash of notes, left hand bass goes up and down like waves on the sea, he gets a bit too staccato in places, and doesn't quite pull it off.
Etude 23 - Yokoyama gets the prelude right, and comes in hard with the explosion, on a par with Op10/1, again relentless, lovely treble notes, it's good to have a piano / recording toned just right, lovely low growl in the bass near the end, [this Etude is probably the highlight of my listen].
Etude 24 - sounds somewhat subdued, doesn't have the same oompff as Op10 1 & 12, and yet it's still really compelling.
