Comp Mazurkas

I was looking forward to this cd, since I thought that it would give me an opportunity to hear more of the musician than the technician for a change, as was the case in a live concert that I attended. Yet, I have (re)tried to enjoy this cd for over half a year and still can't take in more than 15 minutes at a time. Especially, since Hamelin turned me into something of a Reger fan after his splendid album devoted to that composer, I hoped that this album would do the same for Szymanowski. Like many concert attendees my exposure to Szymanowski has been limited to several performances of his "Masques". Most notably, I remember Christian Zimmerman's live version of this work, that he did record, but that still awaits additional material for a future DG release.

Szymanowski wrote these sets of Mazurka's for Arthur Rubenstein and I don't know whether it is a reflection of the old master's opinion on these pieces, but I have never heard any of his recordings of them. This in contrast to Stravinsky's three pieces from Petroushka, that Igor dedicated to Arthur, and that were recorded by him and a few hundred other pianists.

While the harmonies of Szymanowski's works are clearly from a post-Wagner era, a comparison with Chopin's Mazurkas seems in place. Well it may be me, but while Frederic penned down quite a few masterpieces in his collection, Szymanowski's sets strike me as a rather meager bunch. A few at a time they may be considered diverting salon pieces, but a full disc of them is just too much of not so good a thing. Especially when I put Michelangeli's landmark recording of a selection of Chopin's Mazurka's after this one, the comparison was more than painful.

Hamelin is a pianist who never ventures too far from the composer's instructions and when he does so it is with the best intentions and results. One can argue that his interpretation of the tempo indication "tres vite" in the opening movement of Alkan's "Les Quatre Ages" Sonata is so fast that the accurate imitation of human laughter gets lost, but the movement and the Sonata greatly benefit from the "presto" approach in this legendary recording. Here however he faithfully follows the composer's intentions and shows us the softer, less technical side of his pianism. The result is a rather minimalist litany of subtle trifles of very limited substance. It bored me to death.

In addition, I have said it more than once and I'll say it again, Hyperion's recordings serve this pianist poorly. Based on Hamelin's performance of Debussy's Poisson d'Or that I heard live in concert, this recording again lacks the subtlety and clarity that brings you anywhere near his "live" sound.

I am aware that two stars is way lower than I ever went in a Hamelin review. While I thought that he was able to pull Roslavets and Godowsky (original works) up to enjoyable levels, this record leaves me cold. A "mixed" album containing a selection of these Mazurkas, the Masques and some other works would have worked better for me.

Yet, let's look ahead: soon we will get a brand new Kapustin disc and this Summer Hamelin will record Albeniz' Iberia, which was a true revelation in concert.

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