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Piano Music Vol. 2

With recordings of Chopin's music, very often (too often for my liking) one gets series of pieces of the same type lumped together: all of the Waltzes, for example; or all four Ballades one after another. While this can work fairly well - with the Nocturnes, for instance, where there is a certain unity of purpose but also a sufficient variety of execution; in other cases it can easily become monotonous - such as hearing dozens and dozens of the Mazurkas without any kind of intermission: who really wants that?

To my mind, well-thought-out recital programmes comprising a variety of different kinds of piece are the ideal way to experience the composer's work. This Piano Music Vol. 2 LP adopts both approaches. On side 1 are the four Impromptus arranged in order of publication, and the Berceuse; whereas on side 2 there are the Barcarolle, one of the Nocturnes and the 3rd Scherzo. Fortunately, the improvisatory nature of the Impromptus means that they don't suffer much from being grouped together in this way.

This disc was a charity shop buy made some seven or eight years ago. I afterwards found Vol. 1 too, albeit not drawn from the same series of re-issues: as shown by the latter being Kempff Plays Chopin - Volume 1; and the former Chopin – Piano Music Vol. 2. I believe the two are '66/'67 re-releases of recordings first issued in '58. The sound-quality is nothing special - a little veiled and distant - but there's nothing wrong with Kempff's pianism, and the music is beautiful.

The sleeve-notes are by Chopin expert Arthur Hedley and are informative, if decidedly old-school. Of the 'Impromptu No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 66', he writes, sniffily: "Although written when Chopin was twenty-four [...], this all-too-popular piece was not published until after his death. [...] Generations of schoolgirls have lavished on it 'torrents of approximate virtuosity', but a first-class performance can still bring out the enduring attractiveness of the music."

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