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Chopin: Piano Concertos - Chamber Versions

Kevin Kenner (piano), Apollon Musigete Quartett

Chopin: Piano Concertos - Chamber Versions

Awards:

The opening of the F minor Concerto sets the tone with transparency and lightness. Ever since winning the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1990, Kenner has stood out as an elegant Chopin player,...

Chopin: Piano Concertos - Chamber Versions

Kevin Kenner (piano), Apollon Musigete Quartett

Purchase product

CD

$18.25

3 available: usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Awards:

The opening of the F minor Concerto sets the tone with transparency and lightness. Ever since winning the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1990, Kenner has stood out as an elegant Chopin player,...

About

It is a fact that Chopin frequently performed his concertos in various chamber versions as was common practice among many composer-pianists of the period. But unfortunately, there is no extant version for strings and piano which can be linked to Chopin's own hand. The principal objective of these versions of the two Chopin Piano Concertos was to create a suitable reduction of the full orchestral score which accommodates the particular requirements of a small ensemble while remaining as close as possible to the original - not an easy task given the lack of reliable source material. In keeping with the spirit of his age, it is likely that Chopin's own performances of the concertos in chamber version could have been characterised by various combinations of string players reading from the orchestral string parts with ad lib additions of the wind parts taken by the strings and/or piano. This somewhat loosely planned presentation of his concertos would be in keeping with the impromptu atmosphere of the soirees of the 19th century salon. Kevin Kenner has taught at the Royal College of Music in London and has performed as soloist with world class orchestras including the BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the Warsaw and Czech Philharmonic orchestras to name a few. His previous recording of Paderewski Sonatas (NIFCCD057) released in 2018 was a Gramophone Editor's Choice: "There are at least three good reasons for investing in this fine recording. First, there is the prospect of hearing 10 of Paderewski's best works for solo piano played on his own instrument...Second, there is the inclusion of Paderewski's Op 1...Third, and most persuasively, there is the playing of Kevin Kenner." - Gramophone Magazine

Awards and reviews

Christmas 2020

The opening of the F minor Concerto sets the tone with transparency and lightness. Ever since winning the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1990, Kenner has stood out as an elegant Chopin player, and he captures the yearning of the opening movement as well as its musical urgency and momentum...These are performances of greater spontaneity than a conductor and orchestra would normally allow...once you’ve heard this, you may well prefer to think of these masterpieces as chamber music.

January 2021

No matter how well you know these two life-enhancing works, I strongly suggest you hear them in their alternative garb. That on its own may not be sufficient justification for the outlay on repertoire of which every self-respecting record collector will have at least one (favourite) version. So let me add a further reason: Kevin Kenner. And a third: the precision of the ensemble and heart-warming rapport between the string players and soloist.
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