Hans Rosbaud Conducts Chopin Piano Concertos – SWR Classic

by | Jun 19, 2019 | Classical CD Reviews, Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11; Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 – Nikita Magaloff, piano (Op. 21); Hans Richter-Haaser, piano (Op. 11)/ SouthWest German Radio Orchestra, Baden-Baden/ Hans Rosbaud – SWR Classic SWR19076CD, 68:46 (5/24/19) [Distr. by Naxos] ****:

The Hans Rosbaud (1895-1962) legacy now extends into repertory not usually associated with this great advocate of the Second Viennese School: Frederic Chopin.  For the F minor Concerto (10 November 1951) Rosbaud has as his soloist the Chopin interpreter of the “old school” in Nikita Magaloff (1912-1980). Magaloff always projects color energy into his performances, and this F minor Concerto sizzles with jeu perle to spare. The richly embossed lines from the orchestra stint in neither concerto when a particularly demonstrative tutti is called for. While commentators consistently downplay Chopin’s orchestral contribution, Rosbaud finds ecstatic drama in his entrances, soft and loud, and the SWR winds and strings provide a deft fabric around Magaloff’s poetic roulades, runs, and fioritura. The sheer velocity and illumined rhythmic pulse of the last movement, Allegro vivace, reveals a mazurka-rondo of gripping vitality, inspiring in the pianist’s approach – often in a variety of waltz tempo – to harmonized color.

The second movement, a refined nocturne marked Larghetto, displays the artistry that made Magaloff a worthy colleague and friend of Dinu Lipatti: lightness of touch, intelligent application of rubato, judicious pedal, and a rhythmic lilt that never sacrifices the poetic vocalism of the Chopin line. The strings of SWR provide a veil and a menacing thunder in the storm section of this first effort in the concerto medium by the young Polish composer. For the first movement, Maestoso, a sense of spontaneity and intelligent improvisation mark a form that Chopin took from Cramer, Heller, and Hummel and made his own.

Portrait of Chopin

Chopin

The E minor Concerto (28 April 1961) enjoys the inestimable art of Hans Richter-Haaser (1912-1992), more noted for his expressive approach to the Austro-German school of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Terms like “noble simplicity” and “quiet grandeur” appear in reviews of his hard-working respect for the composers’ intentions he so sought to realize.  Here, with Rosbaud, Richter-Haaser raises his poetic currency for us all, producing an epic vision of Chopin’s (actual) second effort in the concerto form.  The lines of both the solo and the orchestra loom large, much in the way of the Gilels/Ormandy recording, sans any of the Germanic heaviness that might have aimed for a glossy “profundity.” Like Magaloff, Richter-Haaser sports a persuasive, lightly honed trill of grand staying power. Like Magaloff, Richter-Haaser will apply an inserted grace note or roulade when the rhythmic imp strikes him. The pearly play of the Bellini inspired Romance: Larghetto enjoys a music-box sonority upon which the orchestra weaves unobtrusive – but palpable – passing wind and string harmonies.  We might pay heed to the fine French horn work when it does appear, respectively, in the two concertos. The beguiling last movement, Rondo: Vivace, delivers a virile Krakowiak that quite explodes with colors and contours. The athletic joy in musical collaborative informs evert measure of this youthful poem to the Polish/French spirit, and we delight to recall that maxim of Wilhelm Furtwaengler: “there is Bach, Beethoven – and then there is Chopin!”

The digitally remastered sound from Klaus-Dieter Hesse compels repeated hearings at your earliest convenience.

—Gary Lemco

 

 

 

 

 

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