Tamás Vasáry
Chopin. Concerti per pianoforte e orcnestra n. 1 e 2

What a great record! This is an album that every aficionado and connoisseur of classical and opera music should have in their CD collection (or/and vinyls).

Here we delve into the heart of the tradition and the art of composing because pieces like these span the entirety of music history. Just think, for example, of Beethoven's five piano concertos, Brahms's two (from this perspective, op. 83 is one of the greatest masterpieces of late Romanticism), Liszt's two, Saint-Saëns's five, and Rachmaninoff's four.

Here we have the perfect example of the predecessors the young Chopin had to contend with when he composed his two Piano Concertos in 1830. However, before diving into the crux of the review, something very important must be stated: just like in the case of Beethoven's first two piano concertos (i.e., op. 15 and op. 19), the numbering of Chopin's two piano concertos is misleading. In fact, as with Beethoven, the op. 15 concerto was composed second but published first (which is why it is counted as No. 1), and the op. 19, which everyone thinks is No. 2, was actually composed first by Beethoven but published second. In this case, too, the concerto op. 11 was actually published first but was composed a few months after op. 21. And op. 21 is No. 2 because it was published right after op. 11 but was composed first. Therefore, the correct numbering would be: op. 21 No. 1 and op. 11 No. 2.

Both are in minor key (op. 21 is in F minor, op. 11 is in E minor), but Chopin chisels them with such mastery that listeners do not perceive the veneer of melancholy or slight sadness that, by definition, characterizes every minor key. The poet of the small form feels perfectly at ease within these strictly codified forms, which nonetheless require great skill in placing each piece of the puzzle at the perfect moment. Certainly, they are not piano and orchestra concerts like Brahms, also because it would be intensely conceptual music (and those who play music from the composer from Hamburg know this well!), but they are piano and orchestra concerts very well crafted from a melodic and harmonic point of view. And Tamás Vásáry, the great Hungarian pianist, perfectly manages to convey this richness. The only flaw I find in the album is the rendition of the second movement of the Concerto op. 21, also because this very beautiful piece is, between the lines (but perhaps not so subtly), a declaration of love that Chopin made towards the Polish opera singer (and thus Chopin's fellow countrywoman) Costance Gladkowska. This should not be too surprising, also because Chopin admired and esteemed Vincenzo Bellini, a great composer who gifted us with immense masterpieces.