There is a great deal
to enjoy in Demidenko’s Chopin, and
though competition is stiff, you could
do a lot worse if you’re in the market
for a recording of the scherzos, especially
at this low price. He became virtually
the in-house pianist at Hyperion in
the late 1980s and early 1990s, recording
amongst other things more Chopin and
the excellent Medtner concertos.
He can be a volatile
artist, rather in the Argerich manner,
and his considerable virtuosity can
sometimes run away with him, at least
on the evidence of some performances
(live and recorded) that I’ve heard.
But here, the keywords seem to be poetry
and restraint. Demidenko gives a clear
indication of his intentions in the
insert note, where he states ‘In Chopin
musical power is not synonymous with
physical power. Revealingly, you can
contradict his loud dynamics without
damaging his intentions’. He puts his
money where his mouth is at the very
opening of the First Scherzo in B minor.
The opening two chords, marked fortissimo
and then sforzando, are obviously
a call to attention, designed to grab
the listener’s attention for the turmoil
to come. That’s how they’re generally
played, at least by my available comparisons,
Askenazy, Hough and Pletnev. With Demidenko,
they are at most forte, or possibly
nearer to mezzo forte, and it’s
an odd effect, not what one is used
to, but in some ways appropriate. Played
this way, with the emphasis on the harmony
and chord voicing, the initial impact
may be lessened but the feeling is rather
like an unsettling two bar prelude.
The ensuing whirlwind is then even more
effective. His passagework is immaculate,
and when the fireworks are required,
we certainly get them. But again, the
Third Scherzo is less memorable for
its opening double octave bravura (brilliant
as it is) than the glorious chorale-like
tune in the contrasting middle section.
Time and again, I found
myself sitting up and taking notice
in these performances. The sheer sparkling
élan of the Fourth Scherzo
is simply a joy to behold, the exceptionally
tricky rising and falling chordal figure
realized with a glittering, improvisatory
quality that Chopin himself would surely
have applauded. He does stretch the
limits occasionally in the slow sections,
but such is the beauty of the tone produced
that I never once took issue; as I did
on an infuriating disc by Ivo Pogorelich
some years ago.
The two sets of variations
might appear shameless show-stoppers,
but again in the longer, more important
set (on Mozart’s Là ci darem)
Demidenko still tries to balance the
phenomenal fireworks - which really
are something - with structural and
harmonic considerations. In other words
he tries, in both cases, to make them
pieces of music and not a sequence of
encores.
The recorded sound
is excellent, the warm, sympathetic
acoustic of Snape Maltings well captured
by Hyperion’s engineers. You won’t really
be buying this disc for the variations,
and it’s true you can get rivals that
offer better value, such as the lower
mid-price Ashkenazy, who offers all
four Ballades as well. But his recorded
sound is very hard and clangy, and it’s
slightly more expensive. Hough, the
new in-house Hyperion pianist, also
offers the Ballades but is at full price,
as is Pletnev, whose Scherzos form part
of his excellent Carnegie Hall recital
on DG. So there really is a very good
case for getting Demidenko’s intelligently
played account; a real snip at the Helios
budget price.
Tony Haywood
for details
Nikolai Demidenko (piano) 
