CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No 1. Ballades
Frédéric Chopin: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1; and 4 Ballades (No. 1 In G Minor, Op. 23; No. 2 In F Major, Op. 38; No. 3 In A Flat Major, Op. 47; and No. 4 In F Minor, Op. 52)
Seong-Jin Cho, piano; London Symphony Orchestra with Gianandrea Noseda, cond.
Deutsche Grammophon DG 0289 479 5941 0 (available onAmazon)
In November 2016, the first studio recording of Seong-Jin Cho, First Prize winner of the 2015 International Chopin Competition, was released on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label. Cho is joined on the recording by the London Symphony Orchestra and their newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor, Gianandrea Noseda.
Jeremy Nicholas reviewed this new album for Gramophone Magazine, and the following is an excerpt from that review:
It is Noseda who sets the tone of the performance with an introduction that is full of purpose and not a little swagger. This is no journeyman’s accompaniment but, throughout, one which consistently resolves to make Chopin’s oft-derided orchestral writing important and telling. As to the young Korean Seong-Jin Cho… it is not so much his effortless clarity and articulation or lightly pedalled fioritura that capture the attention as much as his ability to let the music breathe. Every time the first movement’s ineffably lovely second subject returns, it becomes more poignant in Cho’s hands. His phrasing here and in the Romanza is truly heart-melting and if the last movement is marginally less special than its predecessors, that hardly counts against this memorable interpretation.
Watch Cho’s performance of Chopin’s Ballade No.1 In G Minor, Op.23 from a live solo recital at the Yellow Lounge here: youtube.com.
[Source: gramophone.co.uk]