Chopin - Etudes Op.10 and 25 | Valentina Lisitsa

See full collection of Etudes

Chopin: Etude Op.10, No.1 | Valentina Lisitsa

Chopin: Etude Op.10, No.12 | Valentina Lisitsa

Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 | Martha Argerich (1970)

Chopin: Piano Sonata No.2, Op.35 | Wilhelm Kempff

Generally speaking, there are two distinct interpretive approaches to Frédéric Chopin. In the first, the pianist uses his/her skill to the extent necessary to highlight the beauty of Chopin's music. In the second, the pianist uses Chopin's music as a means to demonstrate his/her own skill!

For example, listening to Maurizio Pollini's interpretation of Chopin's Etudes you admire the pianist's masterful skills but you miss some of the beauty of the music. An even more characteristic example is the interpretation of the finale of the Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor. It is marked "Presto" and is played "unisono" (both hands play the exact same lines in parallel octaves). Most (if not all) pianists "get rid" of this very short movement in a matter of seconds, following the arbitrary impressionist interpretation according to which the music mimics the wind whistling through the trees of a cemetery (let us recall that the previous movement is the famous "Funeral March"). The Presto is actually played Prestissimo and the performance leaves the listener stunned by its speed and by the performer's skillful ability. Not a single note has remained in the listener's memory, however, since none has been heard clearly!

As far as I know, the only pianist who dared a diametrically opposite interpretation was Wilhelm Kempff. A profound connoisseur of Beethoven's music, he attempts here a more "classic" approach to the finale of Chopin's sonata. The tempo is intentionally kept slower in order for each note to regain its proper value. At the risk of sounding "heretical", I confess that Kempff's interpretation is the one I prefer among dozens of others I have heard!

Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 | Olga Scheps

Chopin: Nocturne in F-sharp, Op. 15, No. 2 - Irene Veneziano

Starts in deceptive tranquillity, like a quiet rowing in a calm lake. Then makes an unexpected, desperate detour into the inferno of high - but hopeless - passion, only to quietly return to the initial state of absolute calmness... My very favorite Chopin nocturne, an apotheosis of the Chopenian ABA miniature form!