Revelatory experiences in music
do not come my way much these days but
listening to this disc has been one
of them.
It never occurred to
me that chamber performance of these
concertos would sound so right. In spite
of their popularity and steadfast position
in the concerto repertory, these are
works that have not had a good press.
Received wisdom has suggested that,
as youthful works (Chopin was around
20 at the time), the piano writing is
a sort of watered-down version of the
composer's more mature solo pieces.
And since his sense of colour was not
naturally orchestral, then the writing
for the accompanying instruments was
considered watery as well. Then there
are problems of structure and so on.
The fact that these
concertos are not of the piano/orchestra
adversarial, war-horse variety - otherwise
so popular - then it follows that they
may be likely to respond sympathetically
to chamber treatment. But the more obvious
truth that now dawns on me is that Chopin
could not help writing in chamber terms
anyway. After all: just as, for example,
Bruckner's spiritual sound-world is
within the lofty heights of a Monastery
or Cathedral, so Chopin's was within
the intimacy of the salon or a friend's
drawing room. The disc's booklet contains
a detailed article that backs this theory,
pointing to evidence that Chopin tried
the pieces out with a few string-playing
friends before publication and indeed
may have intended the works for an alternative
chamber rendering.
The net result for
me, listening to these performances,
is that I have now revised my opinion
of the works and judge them a great
deal better than I thought hitherto.
Considerable credit must go to the performers
for this. I recommend that anyone considering
purchase of this full priced disc should
not just do so for curiosity value alone.
These are first class performances by
any standard. Fumiko Shiraga is a very
fine Chopin player and the Yggdrasil
Quartet from Sweden (augmented by a
double bass), a talented group.
Chopin's music is pretty
central to Shiraga's repertory and her
way with it is to my taste. She is direct,
maintains a sense of forward motion
and is relatively free of mannerism
although some people may prefer more
rubato dreaminess in lyrical passages.
I pulled a couple of "great pianist"
recordings of Concerto no. 1
off the shelf to make a comparison:
Maurizio Pollini and Martha Argerich.
Both, as you would expect, are technically
flawless, so much so in Pollini's case
that he sounds clinical to my ears.
Even though he takes the lovely slow
movement of Concerto No. 1
slower than Shiraga and with tempo variation,
her straight approach carries more beauty
and expression. Argerich’s approach
here is similar to Pollini’s – with
more robustness - but she invests the
music with real feeling. Shiraga stands
up favourably to this formidable competition
As for the string quintet,
the players, in their chamber immediacy,
provide a punch that Chopin's orchestral
scoring does not normally deliver. There
may be a little license here. I do not
have a score to hand but as far as I
recall, Chopin provides very little
guidance in the manuscript in terms
of dynamic and accent. The players take
their own view that results in a good
sense of attack matching Shiraga's playing
well. The outcome is a heightened sense
of excitement and virtuosity when it
comes to those passages where Chopin
starts to wind things up. Further license
is taken by Shiraga in sometimes playing
along in the original score’s orchestral
tutti passages. This helps the sense
of textural integration. Chopin may
well have done this himself in his own
performances.
I cannot think of anything
that is significantly lost in delivering
these performances in chamber mode.
One may assume perhaps that the odd
rare wind solo would suffer from a loss
of colour but I never felt this. For
example, the little horn solo near the
end of Concerto No. 2’s finale
is taken on the piano and it sounds
just right.
So my verdict, personal
though it may be, is that this is how
these two concertos were meant to be.
Congratulations to BIS, Shiraga and
her players for offering this insightful
world premiere recording.
John Leeman
Fumiko Shiraga, piano 
