Godowsky's 53 studies on Chopin's 27 studies are the ne plus ultra of romantic intricacy. Godowsky's wily disclaimer that, far from wanting to 'improve' on Chopin's matchless originals, he merely wished to extend the parameters of technique, hardly convinces purists, who dismiss his magnum opus as an outrageous gilding of the lily, an unforgivable powdering and rouging of Chopin's genius. For others, Godowsky's ingenuity, his ear-tickling wit and elegance, create edifices, indeed 'miracles of rare device'. But if heated debate still rages around the music, the quality of Marc-Andre Hamelin's long-awaited two-disc recording is entirely uncontroversial.
Rarely can such a gargantuan task - truly a labour of Hercules - have been accomplished with such strength, grace and agility, with an ease bordering on nonchalance. His virtuosity is pre-eminent because it is so musical, and it is impossible to think of another living pianist who could have carried off this enterprise with comparable success. In lesser hands these Etudes can seem overweight, so bedecked with finery that they can scarcely move. With Hamelin, even the densest, seemingly impenetrable textures are kept as light as air and everything is mobile, fluent and adroit.
His velocity transforms No 1 into a 'runaway chorale' with a vengeance, and how he revels in No 7, where Godowsky turns Chopin topsy-turvy, creating a confection as delightful as upside-down pineapple cake. His rubato in No 15 is magical yet as natural as breathing, and his silken dexterity in No 17 reminds us of his assertion in the superb accompanying notes that there are more demands for pianissimo than fortissimo. Again, Godowsky's third version of Op 25 No 1 is spun off with a pianistic refinement and gossamer delicacy that erase all possible rivalry in a trice. And if Hamelin is playful and seductive in the wickedly piquant Mazurka of No 34, he unleashes a positively elemental force in No 42, for him 'a cataclysmic amplification' of the so-called 'Winter Wind' that makes even the strongest muscles cry out for mercy. The final and penultimate studies give you two studies for the price of one, harnassing Op 10 No 5 and Op 25 No 9, and Op 10 No 11 and Op 25 No 3 together in a naughty conjunction that would have made the ever-fastidious Chopin apoplectic with rage.
Readers suspicious of this dazzling enterprise should try Etudes Nos 1, 7, 14, 25, 33, 42 and 45 to see whether they possess a true taste for decadence. Meanwhile, Jorge Bolet's stately selection (L'Oiseau Lyre, 10/71 - nla - magisterial rather than vital) and Carlo Grante's more than able three-disc recording are effortlessly eclipsed. And so, to evoke Schumann, it's 'hats off, gentlemen' to this handsomely presented and finely recorded set: to Hyperion, to producer Andrew Keener and most of all to Marc-Andre Hamelin who crowns his already awe-inspiring discography with a truly phenomenal achievement.'