Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28 (Pogorelich)

Everyone loves Chopin’s Op.28, but I think very few people understand what a staggering work this is, and just how many out-and-out masterpieces are stuffed into this set (apart from the usual well-known preludes – Nos. 4, 15, 16, 20, 24). The craft on display is extraordinary – lots of harmonic weirdness (/clever voice-leading), rhythmic playfulness (especially hemiolas), and textural invention. It’s hard to avoid the impression when going through these works that Chopin was quite consciously going for something deeply unsettling and strange – almost every prelude contains a grain of weirdness, something unexpected and intoxicating. But you’ll have to check out the (admittedly very long) pinned comment below for the gory (& glorious!) details.

Pogorelich’s recording is a fairly dangerous one – after getting familiar with it other recordings almost become unlistenable, and even today I think only 2 (perhaps 3?) renditions that can hold a candle to it. Pogo’s interpretive method is fairly simple – he takes the basic idea or emotion of a prelude, whether it’s lyrical or violent, and intensifies it *almost* to the point of absurdity. The slow preludes are very slow, and the fast ones breathless; textures are enlivened with sparing use of the pedal, craggy accents, and overdotting. The recording speaks for itself, but some brief notes:

00:00 – No.1, C maj. Crisp, sparingly pedalled, with the last melodic note of each bar pleasingly clipped (as Chopin indicates in the score).
00:39 – No.2, A min. LH flat and expressionless, the RH weirdly improvisatory.
02:49 – No.3, G maj. Beautifully detached LH figuration, over which the RH floats with a surprising amount of rubato (notice how the 16th notes enter late, while the LH miraculously appears to stay in tempo).
03:44 – No.4, E min. Taut, restrained – the way Pogo holds back at 5:12 is very moving.
06:15 – No.5, D maj. Taken fast, with little pedal. Chattering, schizophrenic quality.
06:42 – No.6, B min. Pogo puts agogic accents on the first B of each RH pair – lovely touch (and he isn’t didactic about this too, ditching this when the LH needs a bit more propulsion).
09:27 – No.7, A maj. The rhythms here are close to triple-dotted, but the effect is very expressive. At such a slow tempo, the piece is wistful and almost sad.
10:22 – No.8, F# min. Elastic phrasing, hyperfine dynamic control. The climax at 11:45 is so intense it’s painful.
12:34 – No.9, E maj. Modulations beautifully highlighted. And the attention to rhythmic detail!
14:25 – No.10, C# min. Preternaturally light.
14:59 – No.11, B maj. The absence of pedal makes the entrance of the legato melody at 15:11 a real hair-raising moment.
15:37 – No.12, G# min. Biting, angular playing with a lots of of rhythmic drive. Also lovely the way the bass descent at 16:11 is highlighted.
16:41 – No.13, F# maj. Very slow, very tender. Almost a meditation. I think this one perfectly showcases Pogo’s ability to play with lyric intensity – how can the entrance of a simple chord at 20:39 be so beautiful?
21:38 – No.14, Eb min. Guttural, mesmeric. A tiny fragment of an unexpected melody will appear before sinking back into the murk.
22:04 – No.15, Db maj. Achingly tender in the outer sections, but the middle is like a whole other universe – so huge and terrifying it could be Mussorgsky.
29:25 – No.16, Bb min. We all know there’s a tradeoff between speed and control/expressiveness, but apparently Pogo was not told. In all seriousness – this piece has never been recorded better. The whole point of this piece is that it should be played irrationally, right at the margin where control becomes impossible (contrast all those flaccid, well-meaning performances we get keep getting at the Chopin Competition); that madness is perfectly captured here.
30:29 – No.17, Ab maj. Beautifully layered– lots of notes, but the melody is always supreme.
33:52 – No.18, F min. Demented, hyper-rhetorical.
34:48 – No.19, Eb maj. The slickest performance of this monstrously difficult work – it comes off almost like an aural bonbon. Surprising accents in the inner/LH voices – teasing countermelodies that are just barely there – and daubs of pedal for coloristic effect.
35:56 – No.20, C min. More overdotting! And a beautifully quiet final phrase.
38:04 – No.21, Bb maj. The lyrical highlight of the set. The RH sings an unbroken line, while the LH is dry, barely audible (even though its counterpoint is kept very clear). Perfectly contrasts the middle section, where the pedal dramatically enters in and the LH takes a much more prominent role.
41:03 – No.22, G min. Bitingly intense. The LH is phrased very rhetorically, so as to establish a motivic link to the opening bass upbeat.
41:48 – No.23, F maj. Played leggiero/staccato throughout.
42:33 – No.24, D min. Uncompromising and surprisingly tender by turns. The whole piece takes on a sort of mythic character.

Видео Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28 (Pogorelich) канала Ashish Xiangyi Kumar