Download Chopin Nocturnes Booklet

CHOPIN Nocturnes
E WA KU P I E C
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN 1810-1849
1 Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2
3’50
2 Nocturne in C-sharp minor
[Lento con gran espressione], Op. posth. KK IVa/16
5’01
3 Nocturne in B major, Op. 32 No. 1
4’54
4 Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1
6’37
5 Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op. 15 No. 2
3’33
6 Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1
6’13
7 Nocturne in G minor, Op. 37 No. 1
5’28
8 Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15 No. 3
5’15
9 Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1, Op. posth.
4’33
0 Nocturne in F-sharp minor, Op. 48 No. 2
7’56
! Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27 No. 2
6’12
Total Playing Time
60’56
Ewa Kupiec piano
2
The Nocturnes – in which compositions Chopin has put the greatest brightness of his genius – have
remained to the present time models of elegance and of romantic sadness without affectation; these
are the most eloquent pages of his life; true poems of the night, sometimes calm as the silver
moonlight…at other times over-shadowed by the clouds which darkened the horizon and the heart of
the poet; occasionally intercepted by some sanguinary drama, the echo of some terrible narrative.
❨
– Jan Kleczyński, How to Play Chopin (1879)
Kleczyński’s poetic portrayal of Frédéric Chopin’s solo piano nocturnes underscores their beauty, variety,
and success as a form, and goes some way to explaining why generations of pianists have revered
these works. Like many of Chopin’s ‘medium-sized’ piano pieces, his nocturnes quickly became and
have remained popular choices for concert hall and salon programs, and have graced the discographies
of many famous pianists. Already in the early years of the 20th century, interpretations of Chopin’s
nocturnes were preserved on acoustic recordings and reproducing piano rolls. Camille Saint-Saëns – a
pianistic giant of the 19th century – recorded the Nocturne Op. 15 No. 2 on a Welte piano roll in 1905.
And in 1906, Theodor Leschetizky – remembered as the teacher of many hundreds of virtuoso pianists
including Paderewski and Schnabel – recorded the Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 (one of his favourite
repertoire pieces), also on a Welte piano roll.
Mention the term ‘nocturne’ today and one immediately thinks of the name Chopin. Yet, the
development of the solo piano nocturne (there already existed Classical-style nocturnes for larger or
varied instrumental forces, by Mozart, Haydn and others) is generally attributed to John Field (17821837), an Irish virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher. Field composed several nocturnes between
1812 and 1836, in St Petersburg. These are characterised by a proto-Romantic style of ornamented
melody projected by the right hand, supported by harmonious figurative broken chord patterns, closely
related to the Classical Alberti bass, played by the left hand. Many found Field’s style beguiling. In the
Preface to his edition of Field’s Nocturnes (1859) Franz Liszt eulogised that no-one else ‘had quite
attained to these vague eolian harmonies, these half-formed sighs floating through the air, softly
lamenting and dissolved in delicious melancholy.’ With such praise, Liszt certainly acknowledged Field’s
important contribution to the nocturne form. Without doubt Chopin, too, was enamoured of Field’s
nocturnes. But it was Chopin, with his ear for eloquent melodies, florid embellishment, and innovatively
colourful harmonic language, who progressed the form to a sphere previously unimagined.
Chopin composed some 21 nocturnes, written between 1827 and 1841. Eighteen of these were
published during his lifetime in groups of either two or three, while the remaining three were published
3
at different times posthumously. Their composition spanned a period during which Chopin was at the
height of his career, revered as a formidable pianist, teacher and composer, and held up as a god-like
figure in the aristocratic salons of Paris.
Initially, it was Chopin’s prowess as a pianist that catapulted him to fame in the early 1830s. By then,
his technique was seemingly flawless and he possessed an uncanny ability to caress the sounds out
of his French piano – he adored Pleyel’s instruments – with minimal effort, producing an extraordinary
palette of colours and effects aided by the innovative use of the pedals. Chopin’s playing left an
indelible impression on practically everyone who had the privilege of hearing him. Sir Charles Hallé,
himself a musician of great distinction, was simply mesmerised by Chopin’s style: ‘I sat entranced,
filled with wonderment, and if the room had suddenly been peopled with fairies I should not have been
astonished… The marvellous charm, the poetry and originality, the perfect freedom and absolute
lucidity of Chopin’s playing at that time cannot be described. It was perfection in every sense… I could
have dropped to my knees to worship him.’ In another account, Joseph Filtsch – brother of Carl Filtsch,
one of Chopin’s most revered students – noted how Chopin’s fingers ‘sing and bring tears to your eyes,
making anyone who is sensitive tremble with emotion.’ Filtsch detailed some essential elements of
Chopin’s technique:
His delicate and slender hands cover wide stretches and skips with fabulous lightness, and his finger
agility is so marvellous that I am ready to believe the amusing story that he has been seen to put his
foot around his neck! Moreover, it is only thanks to his flexibility that he can play black notes with his
thumb or whole series of notes with two fingers only, passing the long finger over the shorter and
sliding from one note to another. His pianissimo is so delicate that he can produce the greatest effects
of crescendo without requiring the strength of the muscular virtuosi of the modern school [presumably
pianists such as Liszt], and he produces marvels of nuance by the use of the pedal, both pedals
together and by his unique legato.
No less fascinating and attractive was Chopin’s peculiarly elusive style of tempo rubato. Following bel
canto principles, he would make the melody sway freely, unfettered by rhythmic strictures, the whole
time underpinning such freedom with a rhythmically steady accompaniment. By all accounts, this
produced incomparable expressiveness. It was often remarked that Chopin’s tempo rubato was almost
impossible to notate (indeed, Chopin gave up trying to do so) and difficult to emulate if one had not
ear-witnessed his playing.
Hearing Chopin play became something of a rarity unless you happened to be in his close circle. He
came to abhor the vehicle of the public concert early on. By the 1833-34 season he was performing
4
only at private events at which he felt his auditors would understand and appreciate his musicianship.
But by that stage his fame as a teacher and composer had already secured his place in the musical
Parnassus. Students flocked to Chopin’s side: the daughters of aristocratic ladies, students in
Conservatoire training, and even some professional pianists. Many of his nocturnes, and other works
including his preludes, impromptus, waltzes and mazurkas, were written for and dedicated to his
students, exploiting the range of their technique (some at amateur level, others more developed and
virtuosic) as well as their capacity for emotional expression.
Chopin’s works were instantly appealing and people clambered to procure new publications. Chopin’s
father, Nicolas Chopin, reported to him in 1833 that ‘your Nocturnes and Mazurkas [Opp. 9 and 6-7] have
been reprinted at Leipzig and were sold out in a few days.’ What was so appealing about the nocturnes?
The nocturne form allowed Chopin flexibility to experiment with the concept of departure and return,
a concept at the heart of Romantic ideals. In many of them, Chopin exploits a ternary-like form (A-B-A)
in which the A section might conjure up a sound world that is unearthly, magical, remote, hesitant,
dream-like, serene or overtly lyrical. These states are achieved by the delicate interposing of the main
melody (literally an aria to be sung at the piano) and its sumptuous elaboration (including spun out
fioritura) with rich harmonic patterns (often with a countermelody enmeshed). This creates novel effects
– painful dissonances dwelt upon for maximum impact, and ravishing textures that help the melody
float. Such intoxicating music often (not always) gives way to a B section that is turbulent in character
and sometimes modulates to a remotely related key. The return of the A section sometimes brings
reposeful closure; at other times it advances the music to a powerful climax. Occasionally the
A section reprise introduces a surprise element (something Chopin included to titillate his audience).
In some nocturnes, Chopin departs from the A-B-A form, omitting the reprise, or omitting the
contrasted middle section. In these, the feeling is of a continuous musical structure freely modulating
between statements of the theme.
Like his other works, the nocturnes display Chopin’s use of his favourite and innovative compositional
devices. These include the spicy Neapolitan sixth; transcendence into the key of the flattened
supertonic; ambiguous chords such as the diminished seventh permitting endless modulatory scope;
and of course modulation to remote keys, creating a vast array of colour. Chopin’s nocturnes promote
his accomplishments as a true Romantic and a revolutionary composer of breathtaking musical and
artistic expression.
Neal Peres Da Costa
5
Ewa Kupiec
Ewa Kupiec regularly performs at the world’s leading
festivals and with major orchestras, including the Munich
Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm
Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra, Warsaw
Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra,
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris.
Conductors with whom she has worked include Marin Alsop,
Neeme Järvi, Ingo Metzmacher, Sakari Oramo, Semyon
Bychkov, Herbert Blomstedt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Andrey
Boreyko and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski.
Ewa Kupiec is closely connected to the music of Chopin
and other Polish composers. For Sony, she recorded
Władysław Szpilman’s music, known from the movie The
Pianist. She is also recognised as one of Europe’s most
dedicated interpreters of contemporary music. Her 2005
Berlin Konzerthaus performance of Schnittke’s First Piano Concerto was the first performance of that
work since 1964 and was released on the Phoenix label together with other Schnittke works for piano
and orchestra.
Among her numerous prizewinning recordings are works by Grażyna Bacewicz, Lutosławski,
Szymanowsky and Paderewski. She has released an album of solo works by Janáček (Haenssler) and
the complete Schnittke piano concertos with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Phoenix). Recent
solo releases on the Solaris label include works by Chopin and Schubert, and the album Imaginary
Landscapes, featuring music of Kodály and Enescu.
Ewa Kupiec studied in Katowice, at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw and at the Royal Academy of Music
in London; she won the ARD Music Competition (duo piano/cello category) in 1992. Since autumn 2011,
she has been a professor of piano at the University of Music, Drama and Media, Hanover.
www.ewakupiec.com
6
Executive Producers Martin Buzacott, Robert Patterson
Recording Producer and Engineer Virginia Read
Editing and Mastering Virginia Read
Publications Editor Natalie Shea
Marketing and Catalogue Coordinator Laura Bell
Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd
Cover Photograph © kurtmartin / Getty Images
Artist Photography © Laion
Piano Technician Curtis Wilkinson
Recorded 15 and 16 March 2011 in the Eugene Goossens Hall of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s
Ultimo Centre, Sydney.
ABC Classics thanks Jacqui Walkden (Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra) and Jonathan Villanueva.
www.abcclassics.com
 2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 훿 2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by
Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting,
lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited.
7
476 4835