Chopin au Naturel

I've never quite known what to think (or feel) about Chopin. How can you not love his music, especially if you have studied piano? It sits on the keys so perfectly and is so tuneful. Yet, it is repetitive in a way that either you have to really be in the mood, or listening to it as background music (as, say, in a salon...), or have a performer who has the nuance just right and can simply captivate you.

I love the war horses, and am bored by them at the same time. I have been unable to motivate myself to build a collection beyond one recording of Martha Argerich playing the Preludes. That is, until I read an intriguing review in the latest Fanfare magazine describing a series produced by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute on original instruments, performed by relatively unknown specialists. My kind of stuff.

So, I ordered two of the latest installments, performed by Dina Yoffe and Janusz Olejniczak –  neither household names – on an 1848 Pleyel and an 1849 Erard, both in essentially original condition (and both tuned at A430).

Both recordings have three essential elements that make them successful to my ears: seasoned performers who live and breath the repertoire and really get inside it, extremely well thought out programs that keep one's interest, and special instruments and the recording engineering to do them justice.

There are just enough of the war horses to provide a context: the rest of the selected pieces add balance and interest. I already knew I would like the Pleyel and Erards: Paolo Giacometti has used similar instruments for both Rossini and Schumann. However, I think they sound even more natural with the Chopin. Ultimately, it is the artists who make the magic, but the instruments enhance it.

Both recordings are really marvelous. They make me love Chopin. Once again.