Amadeus
Chopin: The Mazurkas - Pietro De Maria
A microcosm that Pietro De Maria faces after eight recordings and the astute practice of performing the complete piano works of the Polish composer not only on record, but live on stage. And this is entirely an assetHe ends with the smallest ones, the trinkets: with the supreme difficulty of concentrating in a few instants of music (from a minimum of forty seconds to a maximum of five minutes) an entire universe of expression: that of Chopin’s Mazurkas. A microcosm that Pietro De Maria faces after eight recordings and the astute practice of performing the complete piano works of the Polish composer not only on record, but live on stage. And this is entirely an asset – a merit we have indeed signaled more than once in these columns with reference to the quality of the Venetian pianist’s interpretation.
This latest effort as well (3 cd that include the 13 Mazurkas, the Fantaisie op. 49, the Berceuse op.57, the Barcarolle op.60, the Bolero op.19, the Rondos op 1, 5, and 73 plus the Introduction and Rondo op.16) does not betray the most authentic spirit of a form that accompanied the composer from his adolescence throughout his entire life. Notebooks we might call them. Chopin liked to call them “easel paintings”. Behind these pictures lie his roots: a tern of Polish dances in ternary rhythm (Kujawiak, Mazur, Oberek) which, in his hands (and in the sensitive hands of De Maria) sift, in a subtle process of distillation, the composer’s most intimist romanticism. This was contrary to the trend of athletic piano playing that prevailed in Paris in the early 19th century, which with Chopin becomes purely avant-garde music. In the drawing room, of course. Debussy was still to come, yet he has never seemed so near.
A microcosm that Pietro De Maria faces after eight recordings and the astute practice of performing the complete piano works of the Polish composer not only on record, but live on stage. And this is entirely an assetHe ends with the smallest ones, the trinkets: with the supreme difficulty of concentrating in a few instants of music (from a minimum of forty seconds to a maximum of five minutes) an entire universe of expression: that of Chopin’s Mazurkas. A microcosm that Pietro De Maria faces after eight recordings and the astute practice of performing the complete piano works of the Polish composer not only on record, but live on stage. And this is entirely an asset – a merit we have indeed signaled more than once in these columns with reference to the quality of the Venetian pianist’s interpretation.
This latest effort as well (3 cd that include the 13 Mazurkas, the Fantaisie op. 49, the Berceuse op.57, the Barcarolle op.60, the Bolero op.19, the Rondos op 1, 5, and 73 plus the Introduction and Rondo op.16) does not betray the most authentic spirit of a form that accompanied the composer from his adolescence throughout his entire life. Notebooks we might call them. Chopin liked to call them “easel paintings”. Behind these pictures lie his roots: a tern of Polish dances in ternary rhythm (Kujawiak, Mazur, Oberek) which, in his hands (and in the sensitive hands of De Maria) sift, in a subtle process of distillation, the composer’s most intimist romanticism. This was contrary to the trend of athletic piano playing that prevailed in Paris in the early 19th century, which with Chopin becomes purely avant-garde music. In the drawing room, of course. Debussy was still to come, yet he has never seemed so near.
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