Paderewski: Piano Sonata in E flat minor, Op. 21, etc.
Jonathan Plowright (piano)
A distinctive and distinguished melodic voice shines through … everywhere there is always a strong sense of forward momentum … in Jonathan Plowright these works have a near-ideal interpreter....
Paderewski: Piano Sonata in E flat minor, Op. 21, etc.
Jonathan Plowright (piano)
Purchase product
A distinctive and distinguished melodic voice shines through … everywhere there is always a strong sense of forward momentum … in Jonathan Plowright these works have a near-ideal interpreter....
About
Approaching 150 years since the birth of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (18601941) there remains a certain ambivalence about his legacy. Should he be judged primarily as a pianist or as a composer-pianist? The three works on this disc make the strongest possible case for the latter. The large-scale Piano Sonata in E flat minor, Op 21, is a powerful, turbulent work, showing the composers affinity with Rachmaninov in its passion and extreme technical difficulty, contrasting on occasion with writing of affecting simplicity. The brilliant Jonathan Plowright is the ideal apologist for this musica keen advocate of the Polish Romantic repertoire, possessed of the highest qualities of technique and interpretation.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
September 2007
A distinctive and distinguished melodic voice shines through … everywhere there is always a strong sense of forward momentum … in Jonathan Plowright these works have a near-ideal interpreter. Not only does he negotiate Paderewski’s dizzying virtuoso demands with evident ease, but also his ability to bring an almost string-like tone to the more lyrical passages constantly fascinates in this excellent recording
December 2007
…in Jonathan Plowright you have a pianist clearly in love with every bar of Paderewski's romantic rhetoric and it would be hard to imagine playing of greater sympathy or a more intimidating visceral strength and cogency. …he clears every daunting hurdle with awe-inspiring ease, making a formidable case for one of music's neglected byways. Finely presented and recorded, this is a valuable and surprising issue.
The Independent on Sunday 25th September 2011
The tone is dreamy at times (Józef Wienawski's "Etude"), at others briskly unsentimental (Martinu's "Mazurka").
