Chopin: Late piano works - Ju
MDG Gold MDG 947 1818-6
Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid
Classical - Instrumental
Chopin: 3 Mazurkas, Op. 59; Barcarolle, Op. 60; 2 Nocturnes, Op. 62; Scherzo, Op. 54; 2 Nocturnes, Op. 55; Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61; Ballade, Op. 52
Jin Ju, piano
Programmatic Moment
A moment we have long been waiting for has finally come: the incomparable Jin Ju is now releasing her first Chopin recital on MDG. And the sympathetic and modest pianist’s selection of her carefully thought-out program immediately dispels all the notions (sometimes well-founded ones) that we might have about Chinese keyboard virtuosos. It has been many, many years since one has heard Chopin so movingly rendered!
Inward Journeys
Jin Ju has selected a program featuring Chopin’s late compositions – works from a time when the composer had long taken leave of any sort of superficial piano acrobatics. A deeply felt compositional style accompanied by scruples and doubts and full of the most personal feeling stamps this music, in which supernatural beauty and the deepest emotional tension meet in the narrowest space. In exemplary fashion Jin Ju embeds the nocturne-like middle part in the rollicking and wild E major scherzo!
International Travels
Or the Polonaise Fantasy op. 61: dissonant harmony marks the opening measures; modal chordal connections at most hint at folkloristic reminiscences of Chopin’s native Poland; and a grand narrative spreads out and transports the listener to faraway worlds and related emotional states. The mazurkas with which Jin Ju opens her selection are also strong character studies whose origin in functional and entertaining music is no longer in evidence.
Magical Touch
The vanity of self-love is foreign to Jin Ju. In any case, she is able to develop quasi-multidimensional structures conveyed even on a first hearing. At her hands the “Manfred Bürki” Steinway grand piano of 1901 unfolds its incredible color palette – and it is a point of honor that this event has been captured by MDG technique in the noblest SACD sound. The genuine 3D space of the 2+2+2 recording revives the spirit of Chopin’s Parisian salons – music for soulful moments!
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- Frederic Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
- Frederic Chopin: Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60
- Frederic Chopin: Mazurkas (3), Op. 59
- Frederic Chopin: Mazurkas (3), Op. 59 No. 1
- Frederic Chopin: Mazurkas (3), Op. 59 No. 3
- Frederic Chopin: Nocturne No. 15 in F minor, Op. 55 No. 1
- Frederic Chopin: Nocturne No. 16 in E flat major, Op. 55 No. 2
- Frederic Chopin: Nocturne No. 17 in B major, Op. 62 No. 1
- Frederic Chopin: Nocturne No. 18 in E major, Op. 62 No. 2
- Frederic Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat major, Op. 61
- Frederic Chopin: Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54
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