The Worst Beatle

Martha Argerich

Chopin - Andante Spianato (performed by Martha Argerich)



Chopin - Scherzo No. 3 (performed by Martha Argerich)

Alfred Cortot

Today there are many players of unusual abilities playing Chopin -- players who seem at home in his melancholically lyrical style, who can apply rubato to a melody without breaking the pulse and attend to the music's inner voices -- but there are no Chopinists. There are no pianists whose reputations are primarily based on Chopin performance or whose playing of Chopin is consistently compelling.

[...] some of the most important recorded performances of Chopin were made by a Frenchman who was rarely flip or colorless and who made "poetic divination" a musical religion: Alfred Cortot. Cortot studied with a Chopin pupil, Emile Decombes, and recorded many Chopin pieces several times before his death in 1962. Few of his performances have been easily accessible in recent years, but a six-CD EMI set available as an import amply documents Cortot's standing as a consummate Chopinist.

from here.

Chopin - Prelude in C minor op. 45 (perfomed by Alfred Cortot)


Chopin - Ballade no. 4 (performed by Alfred Cortot)


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Vladimir Sofronitsky

The name of Sofronitsky is connected above all, and properly so, with the music of Chopin and Scriabin. For Sofronitsky's generation, nineteenth-century interpretations of Chopin had long been considered problematic. The numerous layers of sentimentality under which the salon school buried Chopin's music had been replaced by technically perfect renditions, irreproachable in their purity of sound, but clearly deficient. Something imperceptible escaped the majority of performers, even the greatest. A certain Chopin "nerve" was left untouched.

This sense of Chopin's music, inexpressible in words, and impossible to teach, was God's gift to Sofronitsky. Those who heard him in concert recall the invisible but tangible connection he established with his audience. In this bond lay the very essence of Chopin's music. Sofronitsky's loftiness of inspiration, and the exactness with which he could strike the Chopin "nerve", were qualities possessed by no other pianist-at least those whose art is accessible to us, if only in recordings.

from here.

Chopin - Impromptu No. 3, Op. 51 (performed by Vladimir Sofronitsky)


Chopin - Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49 (performed by Vladimir Sofronitsky)


Chopin - Barcarolle, Op. 60 (performed by Vladimir Sofronitsky)




More Sofronitsky from The Worst Beatle

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Louis La Roche - Prick Stick
Louis La Roche - Malfunction
Louis La Roche - Super Soaker (buy) (listen)

Michael Jackson - Thriller (Louis La Roche Remix)
The Amplid - Bernadette (Louis La Roche Remix)