| Review by Arthur April 6, 2010 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
|
|
Jean-Marc Luisada seems to have managed to turn a promising start into a career somewhat off the beaten path. Though he is known in France and Japan, mention of him elsewhere often provokes the question, "who?" This is a great shame, because Luisada is one of the great secrets in the modern world of piano playing! The light went on for me when I heard him play Granados. Granados had never really excited me. I had tried numerous De Laroccha recordings and then Ciccolini, but somehow Granados never spoke to me. But when I heard Luisada, everything clicked! He got terrible reviews: the tempos were too slow, the rhythms wrong, etc. But to me, Luisada had an inner ear for the spirit of the music. To be captivated, you had to give yourself up completely to the experience and trust Luisada enough to enter his world. But if you did, he rewarded you immensely!
But enough of tangents. What about his Chopin? Well, first off, you should know, the one specialty that IS acknowledged is his Chopin. His style is not in the Rubinstein school where everything is clarified. Nor is he a Horowitz or a Weissenberg who try to overwhelm you with the glitter and clarity of the notes. No, Luisada is a very Romantic player. He will stretch a phrase - or compact it - if that achieves his expressive aims. And what are those aims? To enter a world of mystery and magic! For Luisada, Chopin was a poet! That's how it should be for all of us, but in this day and age, most of us don't have time for poetry! About three and a half minutes in to the Polonaise-Fantasie, the virtuoso player will try to wow you with the grandiosity of the phrase, but Luisada plays it as an arching phrase - a yearning phrase. At six and a half minutes into the Scherzo, he gives us a phrase that others overdo, he sees it as a confession. When he does build to a climax (approaching eight minutes into the same Scherzo) it is organic. What follows is a catharsis. And that's how poetry works!
I won't be without the Pollini Polonaises, but there has to be space in the world for the Luisada approach or Chopin will get lost!
I have all Luisada's Chopin recordings and I consider myself blessed. But I am doubly blessed to have one of them in such splendid DSD sound. The one disappointment is that the disc does not include the opus 45 Prelude as listed on this site. But the two Nocturnes, the Barcarolle, and the fourth Scherzo should entice anyone who is on the fence!
I am extremely excited to hear his new recording of the Mazurkas. His earlier DG recording is my reference. And I await with bated breathe April 21st to see what new thoughts he has!
Highly recommended!
|
Was this review helpful to you?
yes |
no
|
|
Sonics: 
