Chopin: Piano Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Fryderyk Chopin
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 11/1989
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 65
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA66324
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (26) Preludes |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Lívia Rév, Piano |
| Berceuse |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Lívia Rév, Piano |
| Fantasie |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Lívia Rév, Piano |
Composer or Director: Fryderyk Chopin
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 11/1989
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: KA66324
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (26) Preludes |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Lívia Rév, Piano |
| Berceuse |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Lívia Rév, Piano |
| Fantasie |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Lívia Rév, Piano |
Author: Joan Chissell
This is unfailingly musical, warmly sympathetic Chopin playing, wholly free of obtrusive idiosyncrasies. Always you can rely on Livia Rev for an eminently balanced point of view. In the Preludes, Op. 28, I particularly enjoyed her in more assuagingly lyrical moods like No. 13 in F sharp (Lento) No. 15 in D flat (Sostenuto), No. 17 in A flat (Allegretto) and No. 21 in B flat (Cantabile). All these are most beautifully sung and shaped. The separate C sharp minor Prelude, Op. 45, is no less eloquent. But just as in Mendelssohn's Songs without words (Hyperion CDA66221/2, 12/87) so again here I thought her just a little more concerned with assuagement than with the troubled truth in more disturbed contexts like No. 8 in F sharp minor (Molto agitato), No. 12 in G sharp minor (Presto), No. 16 in B flat minor (Presto con fuoco), No 22 in G minor (Molto agitato) and No. 24 in D minor (Allegro appassionato). Alongside the impressionable Ashkenazy (Decca) and the highly-strung Pollini (DG), who both nearly always risk a faster tempo in these pieces, she sounds just a little too complacent. Only once, in No. 23 in F, is her own tempo questionably brisk. How much more radiant a shaft of sunlight this piece brings between the stormy Nos. 22 and 24 when taken (as by Ashkenazy) as a true Moderato.
In sum, I'm bound to say that characterization is just that much keener from both Rev's distinguished rivals, so that from them the set as a whole emerges more breathtaking in its revelations and contrasts. Yet there is still very much indeed to enjoy in this discerning artist's maturity and poise; it's a reading never likely to pall, however often heard, because so wholly unmannered, so natural. And incidentally, whereas Pollini plays only the Preludes, Op. 28, Rev (like Ashkenazy) offers several choice extras—including an F minor Fantaisie notable for its finely proportioned unity and continuity. As with the Mendelssohn, we're given no clue as to the recording venue; from its resonance, I would guess a church. The sound is warm and close, with a touch of plumminess. Both rival versions are rather clearer cut.'
In sum, I'm bound to say that characterization is just that much keener from both Rev's distinguished rivals, so that from them the set as a whole emerges more breathtaking in its revelations and contrasts. Yet there is still very much indeed to enjoy in this discerning artist's maturity and poise; it's a reading never likely to pall, however often heard, because so wholly unmannered, so natural. And incidentally, whereas Pollini plays only the Preludes, Op. 28, Rev (like Ashkenazy) offers several choice extras—including an F minor Fantaisie notable for its finely proportioned unity and continuity. As with the Mendelssohn, we're given no clue as to the recording venue; from its resonance, I would guess a church. The sound is warm and close, with a touch of plumminess. Both rival versions are rather clearer cut.'
Chopin: Piano Works
Chopin: Piano Works
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