I'm not entirely sure how many sets of Chopin's Etudes i have, but i can count at least 11, each brings a different perspective, each adds to the sum total of what each Etude is about, rather like getting a second opinion from another Doctor, or a third opinion from yet another Doctor, or..., well this is only the second time i've actually played this disc, and even though i need repeated hearings to truly hear it, my first thoughts are average, on the whole there's a slight degree of slowness in some of his interpretations, a hesitancy maybe, plus i didn't truly feel he has something especially unique and poetic to say, but those feelings can change on a further hearing on a different day, but it was certainly another opportunity to get to know these wonderful Chopin creations.
Hiromi Okada is Japanese, he recorded this disc in 2005, i think i bought this disc in London in a second hand shop, never seen it before, Camerata is a Japanese label, they make some very interesting discs, but not readily available in the West, which is a shame, the front cover picture is a very nice one [by Clive Barda], a black & white shot, covering three quarters of the booklet, which leaves enough room for a band of white on the left, and it's pleasing to the eye the way Chopin / Etudes and Hiromi / Okada are both straddled across the photo / white, and lettered in the opposite black / white, makes a lovely symmetry, and on the back inlay it's good to have the full listing of the Etudes with their timings, though it's somewhat annoying to have the Three New Etudes in the middle, it messes up the numbering.
Where Okada wowed me, was in Etudes 3-4 & 11-13, these were the five that i thought he really excelled in, but i would like to talk more in depth about the best of these five,
Etude 4 [Op10/4] - An Etude of marvellous dexterity, which works if it's played very fast, which means if it hits under the 2 minute mark it works [here Okada plays it in 2:02], so not far off really, it's the accuracy, and hitting the notes perfectly that make the difference, it's also a study in volume, there's voices fairly loud, and others even louder, you need to get them right to get a terraced feel to the different strata, rather like a bunch of players on a stage, all with speaking parts over each other, you need different voices so that each can be heard above the others, it starts almost as if it's in mid tempo, as if some of the recording was spliced off at the beginning, it hits the ground running, it's almost like a dialogue between the right and left hands, Okada gets the legato of the quick runs in the right hand superbly, and i love the way he skips through the sour minefield of trills which lead back to the opening [1:06-1:11], and the left hand blur which takes us back into the opening, is the magical sliver that was missing from the start [1:11+], and it's good to hear the opening tune again, coming back in a second dose, the closing is a sure turn up of energy / volume [1:41+], the thing gets more frantic toward the end, the thing ends up deep in the bass, but not before the right hand has a jagged stab up into the treble [1:53], a real stage drama, sounds like a murder in the end, and must be murder to play as well.
Here's Valentina Lisitsa playing Etude 4 [Op10/4] on YouTube.
Hiromi Okada is Japanese, he recorded this disc in 2005, i think i bought this disc in London in a second hand shop, never seen it before, Camerata is a Japanese label, they make some very interesting discs, but not readily available in the West, which is a shame, the front cover picture is a very nice one [by Clive Barda], a black & white shot, covering three quarters of the booklet, which leaves enough room for a band of white on the left, and it's pleasing to the eye the way Chopin / Etudes and Hiromi / Okada are both straddled across the photo / white, and lettered in the opposite black / white, makes a lovely symmetry, and on the back inlay it's good to have the full listing of the Etudes with their timings, though it's somewhat annoying to have the Three New Etudes in the middle, it messes up the numbering.
Where Okada wowed me, was in Etudes 3-4 & 11-13, these were the five that i thought he really excelled in, but i would like to talk more in depth about the best of these five,
Etude 4 [Op10/4] - An Etude of marvellous dexterity, which works if it's played very fast, which means if it hits under the 2 minute mark it works [here Okada plays it in 2:02], so not far off really, it's the accuracy, and hitting the notes perfectly that make the difference, it's also a study in volume, there's voices fairly loud, and others even louder, you need to get them right to get a terraced feel to the different strata, rather like a bunch of players on a stage, all with speaking parts over each other, you need different voices so that each can be heard above the others, it starts almost as if it's in mid tempo, as if some of the recording was spliced off at the beginning, it hits the ground running, it's almost like a dialogue between the right and left hands, Okada gets the legato of the quick runs in the right hand superbly, and i love the way he skips through the sour minefield of trills which lead back to the opening [1:06-1:11], and the left hand blur which takes us back into the opening, is the magical sliver that was missing from the start [1:11+], and it's good to hear the opening tune again, coming back in a second dose, the closing is a sure turn up of energy / volume [1:41+], the thing gets more frantic toward the end, the thing ends up deep in the bass, but not before the right hand has a jagged stab up into the treble [1:53], a real stage drama, sounds like a murder in the end, and must be murder to play as well.
Here's Valentina Lisitsa playing Etude 4 [Op10/4] on YouTube.
No comments:
Post a Comment