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Chopin: Nocturnes
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List Price: $21.98
Our Price: $16.99
Your Save: $ 4.99 ( 23% )
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Manufacturer: Nonesuch
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0075597923322
Label: Nonesuch
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Nonesuch
Release Date: 1991-06-25
Studio: Nonesuch
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Editorial Reviews:
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If Moravec had made only these recordings, he would still be esteemed as one of our greatest pianists. He makes the piano sing throughout this set--coloring the music with exquisite tonal shadings, reflecting the changes of mood with total conviction, and providing moment after moment of revelatory beauty. Many critics consider this the greatest set of the Chopin Nocturnes ever recorded, even finer than the superb stereo set by Rubinstein on RCA. The 1966 recordings, made in two different venues, are still outstanding examples of beautiful-sounding, realistic piano sound. --Leslie Gerber
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Ethereal
Comment: A beautiful collection of 19th century miniature masterpieces. Mysterious and yearning, refined and elegant. As good as it gets, and beyond, perhaps, the capabilities of contempory civilization (the world has moved on, these pieces could only have been written once.)
I enjoy Moravec's playing very much, and also Rubinstein's. We are fortunate to have both.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Moravec is Moravec
Comment: I have owned and studied this recording for quite awhile. At first, I was taken by Moravec's gorgeous tone, his shading of melody. The real litmus test, for me, is the strange, mysterious Op. 32 B Major... The "Big" Nocturnes are much more accessible and easier, in making an impression. But Moravec, the more I listen to the Op. 32, has won me. At first, I was taken aback by his liberal rubato; more a drastic change of tempo (that phrase you will find in many of my reviews)... Chopin was a great admirer of Mozart and Bach. Many scholarly musicologists have written that the commonly-held view that Chopin's music may be rightly played with a great range of rubato are disputed by his contemporaries; that his own peformances were much more strictly held within a limited use of rubato... Who is to know? For in Moravec's liberties, he gives to me, at least, a convincing reading. Beautiful, moving, living, breathing melody. And the same writers who write of Chopin's playing being strict in rhythm, also write that he recommended to his students that they listen to great singers to grasp the sense required to play his melodies. Well, singers must breathe, rubato in that sense, is built into the very mechanism of the voice. My take, now, after much study and contemplation, is, "does the performer convince me?" I'm not one to sit with a metronome or even tap my foot... I just listen, and MOravec, in the listening, brings every Nocturne to life, gives the melodies breath, the sweeping, sometimes, accompaniments, breadth. And what a tone, the eveness he brings to his touch is musicality, pure and simple. Love this recording, as I do Rubenstein's. But where do Moravec and Rubenstein begin and CHopin end? Are there any other recordings anyone might recommend of the Nocturnes? I'm curious to know of a contemporary pianist's interpretations. As a pianist, I find myself struggling greatly; learning the notes, mastering the technique required for the Ballades and Scherzi, is just the beginning. That done, how personal can one make this music without losing sense of the composer's intention? Any answers out there? I'm open-minded and would appreciate anyone who has time to respond to my comments.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another vote for "please be quiet"
Comment: I will merely steal the description of my fellow reviewer as they were so very accurate...
"This recording deserves five stars for the brilliant playing of Moravec. However, the constant moaning,humming,heavy breathing,or whatever it is that Moravec does is very distracting..."
Through my system this was actually so distracting that I can not even listen to the album. All I hear is moans, heavy breathing and especially a sound that seems to be pedal movement. On a low end system or in your car it is fine, but on a good system this recording just doesn't hold up.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Definitive Nocturnal Enchantment
Comment: Having nearly every Chopin Nocturne Collection listed on Amazon, I can say Moravec gets the most repeated plays... romantic, dreamy and enchanting. If you want the Nocturnes, get Moravec first...and if you are a student of Chopins Nocturnes or just a Nocturne nut like me, you will follow with Rubenstein, Vasary, Pires, Pollini, Idil Biret,Ohlsson, and a few other which are all beautiful and quite different from each other. If you want to avoid a stinker: Solo Piano: Impressions on Chopin's Nocturnes" by Jacques Loussier
Customer Rating:
Summary: Impossible to describe with words
Comment: Here we have ladies and gentlemen, THE recording of Chopin's Nocturnes - better than Pires, Rubenstein, Arrau. In short, Moravec is the master of these. The occational humming and breathing in the background betrays the fact that Moravec, more than any other has internalized these pieces and made them his own. He strings each phrase along with such grace, clarity, and unmatched fluidity that others sound ruthlessly mechanical by comparision. Do yourself a favor and by these recordings, they are both definative and masterful.
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