Gary Lemco Archive

Hans Rosbaud Conducts Chopin Piano Concertos – SWR Classic

by Audiophile Audition | Jun 19, 2019 | Classical CD Reviews, Classical Reissue Reviews

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 […]