Chopin – Four Scherzi (Pogorelich) [1999]

1. Scherzo No.1 in B minor, Op.20	10:57	
2. Scherzo No.2 in B flat minor, Op.31	10:40
3. Scherzo No.3 in C sharp minor, Op.39	8:07	
4. Scherzo No.4 in E, Op.54	12:08

Ivo Pogorelich – piano

Chopin has been played by any number of masters, virtuosos and technicians. Ivo Pogorelich outdoes most eveyone in this rendering. The clarity and sensitivity of interpretation in these performances brings a new sparkle to the old cherished notes. The audio quality of this recording is wonderful too. Highly recommend. ---Mike Shakinovsky, Rovi

Chopin's scherzi are among his larger, more outward projecting works. Like so many musical terms, the word scherzo changed meaning over time. Italian for joke, it originally designated a lighthearted piece in 2/4 time, then later came to mean the kind of fast movement that took the place of the minuet in multi-movement forms such as the symphony and the sonata. For Chopin, however, the scherzo would be no joke but a serious, large form full of dramatic conflicts, painful emotion and despair; three of the four are in minor keys.

No stranger to dramatic conflicts, Ivo Pogorelich burst on the scene when Martha Argerich, accusing Soviet judges of a fix, angrily quit the jury of the 1980 Chopin competition over their inability to select him as a finalist. His famous failure overshadowed the rest of the competition that year and his playing has left a wake of sharply divided critics ever since. He is a master of extremes: underlining emphatically, becoming meditatively still in slow passages, taking incredible tempos in fast sections, addressing technical challenges like a man wielding a flamethrower marching through a field of matchsticks. This is extreme Chopin, thought-provoking and at times breathtaking. ---arkivmusic.com

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