CHOPIN Complete Etudes
Frédéric Chopin: Etudes
Alessandro Deljavan, piano
Brilliant Classics (Nov 2015); Available at amazon.com
From Amazon.com:
Chopin threw down the gauntlet for all who would come after him. These 24 studies, and the three works published as ‘Nouvelles Etudes’ within the Méthode des Méthodes de Moscheles et Fétis—a publication including studies by Henselt, Liszt, Mendelssohn and Thalberg—probe and refine every aspect of a pianist’s technique, as one might expect from the technical and didactic implications of their title. What distinguishes them, however, from the hundreds of other similar volumes published throughout the 19th century and beyond, is the melodic genius, harmonic novelty and long-range structure that is peculiar to Chopin. Alessandro Deljavan is a young Italian pianist whose previous recordings for Brilliant Classics include the violin sonatas of Anton Rubinstein (BC94605), played with his regular duet partner Daniela Cammarano.
This recording has received a Gramophone review by Patrick Rucker, from which the following is an excerpt:
[I]n his latest offering, Chopin’s 27 Etudes, his musical and pianistic personality is displayed in high relief. Deljavan is first and foremost a lyrical player. For him, the phrase is paramount, an excellent attribute in a Chopin player. His imagination is vivid, though sometimes it leads him into a stylistic no man’s land, where details are worried to death and the forest is lost for the trees.
The exquisite E major Etude (Op 10 No 3) maintains a persuasive lyrical calm, followed by a C sharp minor (No 4) that is furious, galvanised and exciting. The sprightly energy of ‘Black Keys’ (No 5) seems particularly apt, and the ‘Revolutionary’ (No 12) roils without becoming overblown. The sustained cantabile of the ‘Cello’ Etude (Op 25 No 7) rises to poignant eloquence.
[Sources: gramophone.co.uk, amazon.com]