Comparison Recording: Arrau/Inbal/Philips
Naxos has frequently
recorded the conductor Dmitry Yablonsky
in Russian repertoire in recent years.
He has to his credit many discs including
ones of Myaskovsky Symphonies, Prokofiev’s
Alexander Nevsky, Arensky Suites, Glazunov
Piano Concertos and a brand new release
of the Vainberg and Myaskovsky Violin
Concertos. Reviewers have been rather
hard on Yablonsky, highlighting a wide
range of reservations concerning tempos
that are either too slow or too fast,
a lack of patience, excessive drive
and underinflection.
To my surprise, the
small label Bel Air has released a new
recording of Dmitry Yablonsky conducting
four of Chopin’s works for piano and
orchestra. I was quite glad to get this
disc for review and hear how Yablonsky
interprets the famous Polish composer.
I don’t mind saying that he does a highly
creditable job.
Yablonsky’s recording
is an all-Russian affair with Natasha
Paremski handling the piano part. She
started taking piano lessons at the
age of four and immigrated to the United
States in 1995 where she studied with
Earl Wild and Oxana Yablonskya. Paremski
is a mere sixteen years of age, but
she already is competitive with alternative
versions. Also, there is little need
to worry that Paremski does not have
a wealth of life experiences to draw
upon when interpreting her Chopin program.
With little exception, the music stays
clear of deeply disturbing emotional
themes that require a mature person’s
consideration.
Yablonsky isn’t the
only person featured on the disc who
gets some bad press. Poor Chopin is
routinely raked over the coals for his
lack of expertise in orchestration.
Even in the ever-popular two Piano Concertos,
his orchestral contributions are referred
to as unimaginative, dutiful and lacking
in color. I won’t attempt to dispute
this point of view. The fact is that
Chopin was not a great composer for
the orchestra; he was simply a great
composer, and this overriding feature
shines through in each of his works
for piano and orchestra.
Chopin’s trademark
for continuous invention, transcendent
fluidity and a seamless flow are found
in each of the four programmed works
on the Bel Air disc. The first piece,
a set of variations on one of Mozart’s
most famous duets, is very unusual in
that it has a two-part introduction
that lasts almost six minutes. Also,
Chopin shows his creativity through
his transformation of Mozart’s music.
Using his entire palette of magic, Chopin
makes this duet into a wide spectrum
of colors and purposes. He sparkles,
entices, cajoles, contemplates, places
demands and wages war on us.
Claudio Arrau is consistently
engaging, fluid, and tuned in to the
myriad of themes offered by Chopin.
Inbal and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
also do not disappoint, giving us the
full sweep of the work. Yablonsky and
Paremski are also highly enjoyable.
They offer Chopin’s exuberance at close
to full tilt, and Paremski is particularly
poetic in the slower and more relaxed
passages. Her fluidity is not yet at
Arrau’s level, but that is to be expected.
With little exception, I don’t find
Yablonsky’s tempos wayward or that he
drives the music forward too insistently.
However, there are
a couple of reservations on my part.
The performance of the basic theme is
on the slow side and somewhat plodding;
there’s much more ‘lift’ in Arrau’s
performance. My other complaint is that
both Yablonsky and Paremski sound like
they are ‘tuning out’ at a few points,
as if their interest in the music has
been superceded by the arrival of lunch
or a new stock market tip. I suppose
that this effect is what other reviewers
have noticed from Yablonsky, an inexplicable
under-inflection that can give his performances
a static quality. In this case, Paremski
seems perfectly content to go with Yablonsky’s
flow.
Although Chopin spent
much of his life outside Poland, he
always harbored a deep love for his
country and its culture. Quite a few
of his compositions possess the affection
he had for his native land, and the
"Fantasia on Polish Airs"
is amongst them. In its first section,
the orchestra opens its wings with dignity
and warmth and then bows to the piano
that plays the Polish Air. Eventually,
the orchestra returns to repeat the
Air, while the piano offers a delightful
series of supporting adornments. Three
additional sections are presented, but
the one that entirely wins my heart
is the Polish to the core 2nd
Section. It conveys a rock-solid love
for Chopin’s native land delivered with
a great blend of tenderness, security,
and uplifting faith.
Both Yablonsky and
Paremski stay alert this time around,
and I actually prefer their performance
to the Arrau/Inbal. The Fantasia is
akin to what I like to call ‘liquid
gold’, and Paremski pours it out deliciously.
Her 2nd Section is the best
I’ve heard on record, conveying so much
love and ardor for Chopin’s homeland
that I almost feel compelled to book
a flight to Warsaw. Arrau and Inbal
play well, but I don’t detect much fervor
in their readings.
In the Krakowiak, Chopin
takes a dance style from Krakow and
subjects it to rondo form. The introduction
is gorgeous, and the following three
dances of the rondo have an irresistible
vivaciousness. A few of Chopin’s runs
are quite long and repetitive, but the
overall impression is one of exuberant
joy. I have bungled my way through the
solo piano version that Chopin wrote,
and it’s a fun piece to play. Paremski
and Yablonsky are again highly impressive,
surely having a great time taking the
plunge into this delectable musical
brew.
Chopin’s "Andante
Spianato and Grande Polonaise"
is a ‘cut and paste’ work in that Chopin
wrote the Grande Polonaise in 1831 and
then pasted the unrelated 1834 Andante
Spianato in front of the Polonaise.
Although not thematically connected,
the combined work is one of Chopin’s
most popular creations, and the Grande
Polonaise was the concluding piece of
music to the Oscar Awards winning movie
"The Pianist". Paremski and
Yablonsky continue their rewarding ways
with that ‘liquid gold’ effect I mentioned
earlier that is particularly stunning
in Paremski’s solo piano Andante Spianato.
In conclusion, this
new Bel Air disc gives us highly entertaining
and totally idiomatic music-making throughout
its sixty-five minute length. Dmitry
Yablonsky gives one of his best-recorded
performances to date, and the young
Natasha Paremski is clearly an outstanding
pianist we will be hearing from again
in the future. Another plus for the
disc is that the soundstage is warm
and vibrant, just perfect for these
early Chopin works.
I have never seen any
Bel Air discs in the local Albuquerque
stores, but the company’s recordings
may be purchased on-line directly at
www.belairmusic.com.
Bel Air’s e-mail address is belair@monaco.mc.
Don Satz
Natasha Paremski, piano 