Chopin: Four Scherzi (Pogorelich)

Pogorelich’s performance of Chopin’s Scherzi is one of the most astounding discs of keyboard music ever produced: there are more new ideas jam-packed this single disc than there are in most recordings twice its length. The whole thing is possessed of a kind of imperious, seductive daring that’s kind of impossible not to fall in love with. For a start, just pay attention to how P. manipulates tempo: the two unusually long chords that open the Op.20 and the rhythmic extensions in the Op.39 chorale are an obvious place to start, but there’s also the way he broadens the tempo at dramatic moments to create the most transcendental climaxes I’ve ever heard in these pieces: at 18:42 there a sense of overwhelming tragedy I’d never heard before, and at 40:54 the way the sound suddenly sweeps you up, and turns joyous, celebratory, orchestral—that has mostly got to do, again, with the drop in tempo. There is also a lot of spellbinding cantabile playing here: 15:04 (where the notes in the two RH voices are luxuriously sustained enough for the voices to be distinct!), 20:09, 33:31. This kind of seductive, fine-spun melodic line, it’s worth noting, is greatly helped by the relatively slow tempi P. chooses for the inner lyrical sections. There are also wonderful textural touches: the razor-sharp staccatos at 18:26 and 20:49(!), the muscular codas, the writhing of the outer sections of the Op.20, the brilliance of the rapid runs.

00:00 – No.1, Op.20 in B Minor
10:52 – No.2, Op 31 in Bb Minor
21:26 – No.3, Op.39 in C# Minor
29:25 – No.4, Op.54 in E Major