International Piano
Chopin: Piano Works, vol. 4
Once more, and to an even greater extent than before, you are made aware of a well-nigh flawless marriage of creator and re-creator, of composer and interpreterVol.4 of Pietro De Maria’s Chopin cycle couplet the 26 preludes (he includes the posthumous and op. 45 additions) with the composer’s ‘Third Piano Concerto’, his Allegro de concert. Once more, and to an even greater extent than before, you are made aware of a well-nigh flawless marriage of creator and re-creator, of composer and interpreter.
De Maria is acutely sensitive to the wild mood swings in the preludes, yet everything is accomplished with a rare poise, lucidity and tonal refinement. He captures all of the nameless malaise of no.2 before deftly swithcing to a delectably lightfingered brio in no.3. He is deeply personal and reflective in the elegy of no. 4 with its ‘blue’ insistence on a single interval and nos. 13 and 15 can rarely have been played with such interior warmth and magic, At the same time there is a superb sense of storm and stress in no. 22 and without resorting to, say, Argerich’s blazing inferno he is no less stunningly in command of the 16th Prelude’s sound and fury.
The fluttering posthumous Prelude in A flat major can rarely have been played with such imaginative delicacy and few pianists have conjured such an uncanny sense of stillness in the cloudy and speculative op. 45 Prelude.
Again, in the daunting Allegro de concert every detail shines out as if newly minted and throughout one fierce challenge after another De Maria’s technique is as unfaltering as it is unobtrusive. In short, few more musicianly Chopin recitals exist on disc. The recordings are as refined as the playing and it only remains for me to add that the sooner Italian Decca makes this cycle readily available worldwide the better. Admirers of this wonderful young pianist will need to know that three more releases are planned this year.
Once more, and to an even greater extent than before, you are made aware of a well-nigh flawless marriage of creator and re-creator, of composer and interpreterVol.4 of Pietro De Maria’s Chopin cycle couplet the 26 preludes (he includes the posthumous and op. 45 additions) with the composer’s ‘Third Piano Concerto’, his Allegro de concert. Once more, and to an even greater extent than before, you are made aware of a well-nigh flawless marriage of creator and re-creator, of composer and interpreter.
De Maria is acutely sensitive to the wild mood swings in the preludes, yet everything is accomplished with a rare poise, lucidity and tonal refinement. He captures all of the nameless malaise of no.2 before deftly swithcing to a delectably lightfingered brio in no.3. He is deeply personal and reflective in the elegy of no. 4 with its ‘blue’ insistence on a single interval and nos. 13 and 15 can rarely have been played with such interior warmth and magic, At the same time there is a superb sense of storm and stress in no. 22 and without resorting to, say, Argerich’s blazing inferno he is no less stunningly in command of the 16th Prelude’s sound and fury.
The fluttering posthumous Prelude in A flat major can rarely have been played with such imaginative delicacy and few pianists have conjured such an uncanny sense of stillness in the cloudy and speculative op. 45 Prelude.
Again, in the daunting Allegro de concert every detail shines out as if newly minted and throughout one fierce challenge after another De Maria’s technique is as unfaltering as it is unobtrusive. In short, few more musicianly Chopin recitals exist on disc. The recordings are as refined as the playing and it only remains for me to add that the sooner Italian Decca makes this cycle readily available worldwide the better. Admirers of this wonderful young pianist will need to know that three more releases are planned this year.
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