It is great to have award-winning Marc-André Hamelin back in the studio, returning to one of his favorite venues the Henry Wood Hall. Recent discs from him have focused on music which is either under-recorded or technically superhuman or both. It is particularly fitting that this French-Canadian pianist has chosen an ‘all Chopin’ recital for this latest Hyperion project. It was not long ago in November and December 2008 when Hamelin appeared in Toronto’s Jane Mallet Theatre and Hong Kong’s City Hall and performed selections of these works in recitals which I attended. I reviewed the latter of these here. It has taken Hamelin well over a decade with Hyperion before he has found it apt to turn his attention to the two mainstays of the Romantic repertoire: Chopin’s Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3, and particularly with the former. It has been nearly fifteen-years since he last recorded the B Flat Minor Sonata which took place in Montréal for the Canadian Port-Royal label. By comparison the results today sound more vibrant and youthful than ever, and they have been stunningly recorded by Hyperion recording engineer Simon Eadon and producer Andrew Keener.
Who else but Marc-André Hamelin can open an all-Chopin recital with the gentle, extraordinarily colouristic Berceuse and get away with it? The pianist quickly puts listeners in his confidence with his silky legato, impeccable balance between the hands, and discerning rubatos. Perahia and Kempff may boast more tonal shimmer, yet Hamelin impresses with his introspective approach.
Completed in 1839, the Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor is most commonly referred to as the ‘Marche funèbre’, owing to the intense mournful mood of the celebrated third movement. In the first, one notices Hamelin’s austere and forthright playing. The dreamy dusk-like quality of the contrasting lyrical second theme is remarkable. The Scherzo feels like a frightening and reckless chase that Hamelin follows with contrasting passages of wistful introspection. It is difficult to imagine a more somber, controlled and assured quality to the “Funeral March”. The fragrant Elegy at 2:38-4:44 is reminiscent of a serene and tender scene from a child’s nursery. I enjoyed the short and enigmatic final Presto where Hamelin’s passagework balances brutal torment with uncontrollable fever.
This disc is interspersed with some of Chopin’s greatest single-movement works which start with the D Flat Major Berceuse. The Op.27 Nocturnes come across as lyrical vocalizes - beautifully arched by left-hand accompaniments. The weakness comes from Hamelin’s Barcarolle, which falls short in his use of agogic and fluctuations of rhythm compared to celebrated readings of Dong Thai Son or Fou Ts’ong, pianists whose Barcarolles were characterized by great nobility and magnificent technical fluency.
Better by far was Chopin's B Minor Sonata. Hamelin brings to the work to life though his innate musicality and his ability to voice the inner parts. A further gain lies in the remarkable amplitude and sensitivity he draws from the Steinway piano; this even in the quietest of passages. The Scherzo second movement, minimally pedaled unlike his interpretation from Hong Kong last December, had wings, its reprise subtly varied and feather-light. The Largo third movement, like a benediction, lifts the mind and heart. The finale's unleashed menace was fully realized; when the floodgates finally opened, there was absolutely no doubt as to where the work's one real climax lay.
Hamelin’s Chopin recital all-in-all is characterized by innate musicality, great nobility and magnificent technical command. I found the sound quality pleasingly realistic. The liner-notes from Jim Samson are educational and offered me a Saturday afternoon where I learnt new things about Chopin.

泽野弘之：夜曲集

Award-winning Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds has premiered the first song from his new album 'The Chopin Project' - a collaboration with German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott - on The Line Of Best Fit.

The track is titled 'Verses', and gives us a taste of what is to come on March 16th, when the album in full will be released.

Arnalds utilised vintage equipment and techniques to create this stunning, melancholy new reimagining of Chopin's work.

"Verses is a new composition by me which uses the famous right hand motif from Piano Sonata No3 (Largo) and is followed by that part of that Sonata in its original version played on the piano by Alice," Arnalds explained to Line Of Best Fit. "So you hear the motif first recomposed arranged for a string quartet and then just a couple of minutes you will hear it in it's original state played on the piano.

"With this I wanted to show listeners quite clearly what I was doing with 'Verses', which they might not realise is composed around a motif from the sonata unless they hear the original sonata next to it."

01. Waltz for piano No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 18, CT. 207
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

02. Fantasy-Impromptu for piano in C sharp minor, Op. 66, CT. 46
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

03. Nocturne for piano No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 9/2, CT. 109
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

04. Waltz for piano No. 3 in A minor, Op. 34/2, CT. 209
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

05. Mazurka for piano No. 23 in D major, Op. 33/2, CT. 73
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

06. Scherzo for piano No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31, CT. 198
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

07. Waltz for piano No. 9 in A flat major ("L'adieu") Op. 69/1, CT. 215
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

08. Nocturne for piano No. 5 in F sharp major, Op. 15/2, CT. 112
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

09. Waltz for piano No. 10 in B minor, Op. 69/2, CT. 216
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

10. Ballade for piano No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, CT. 2
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

11. Mazurka for piano No. 10 in B flat major, Op. 17/1, CT. 60
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

12. Waltz for piano No. 11 in G flat major, Op. 70/1, CT. 217
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

13. Nocturne for piano No. 9 in B major, Op. 32/1, CT. 116
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy

14. Polonaise for piano No. 6 in A flat major ("Héroique"), Op. 53, CT. 155
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin
with Vladimir Ashkenazy