Chopin Warsaw Recital

Chopin The Warsaw Recital. Daniel Barenboim performs the following solo Chopin pieces in 2010 at the Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall:

1. Fantasia in F minor

2. Nocturne in D flat major

3. Sonata in B flat minor

4. Barcarolle in F sharp major

5. Waltz in F major

6. Waltz in A minor

7. Waltz in C sharp minor

8. Berceuse in D flat major

9. Polonaise in A flat major

10. Mazurka in minor

11. Waltz in D flat major

Produced by Paul Smaczny; directed for TV by Michael Beyer; Director of Photography was Nyika Jancsó; Audio Producer was Georg Obermayer. Released 1011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

Save for the iconic funeral march, this 2010 performance features Daniel Barenboim in a sunny, optimistic all-Chopin program for the Composer's bicentennial in Warsaw, Poland. Considering Barenboim's legendary intellectual curiosity, its almost ironic that this program contains most of Chopin's popular, crowd-pleasing work.

In this performance Barenboim summoned all of his physical and intellectual prowess---and charm. Robert Schumann's famous criticism of Chopin's second piano sonata (four unruly children bound together)  seems less valid thanks to the precision and sense of architecture Barenboim brings to it. The finale doesn't have the cosmic, manic energy Alfred Cortot brought in a popular EMI account, but Barenboim’s control is remarkable. Until the last note, he plays the whole movement in velvet pianissimo (and with astonishing clarity), showing the finale's journey through the pleasant harmonic changes written in.  It makes the final notes that much more of a surprise. Barenboim's wealth of life experience must have brought a warmth and maturity to the Barcarolle, which is uncommon among most competition winners these days. Perhaps the most delightful pieces on this disc are the waltzes---I've never heard Barenboim play with so much grace and finesse.

This concert has a very pleasant and uncommonly no-nonsense camera direction--- I love it.  It's not erratic and pretentious like Barenboim's acclaimed 2005 EMI DVD set of the Beethoven Sonatas (which needs to be re-edited and released on blu-ray). In this Chopin video, we always get great shots of his hands or profile which never linger too long or too short. It's just really well thought out compared to the otherwise superb EMI Beethoven cycle. Recorded with modern technology, the handsome Steinway concert grand sounds very real.

A few interpretational quirks in this concert will definitely offend most Chopinists (I didn't particularly admire the repetitive "DING!" sounds Barenboim made in certain notes during the A-minor waltz).  His habit of producing thumping sonorities in grand passages (as he does in the Brahms Concertos or Beethoven Sonatas) is present---but are fortunately tolerable. And it's true; there have been other pianists who have brought out more mysticism from the Sonata or drama in the Fantasy. But because Barenboim played all of these works with such convincing authority and the concert was filmed and recorded so well, no connoisseur should forgo experiencing this.

Almost inarguably, this is one of the best Blu-ray discs of a solo piano recital. If this program were in the hands of a certain histrionic Chinese celebrity, the present disc could have been a tasteless spectacle. Instead, this is a milestone in Barenboim's illustrious career and a thoroughly enjoyable product.  It fully deserves an "A" grade.

Update on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 9:14PM by Henry McFadyen Jr.

Jeremy Nicholas praised the "unfussy direction" of this disc in the 2011 Gramophone at page 93. Lately we have  given bad grades to symphony music discs when the video content is "fussy" due to DVD-type video content.  But this kind of criticism would not apply to a recital  where there is only one performer to record.

What would it take to have an A+ record of a Chopin recital? We would hope for audiophile-level recording practices beginning with 96kHz/24 bit sound sampling. It might also help to have a Chopin specialist perform the program. Probably this would be done in a studio because it's easier to control elite sound recording in a studio than out there in the real world.