CHOPIN Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3 Polonaises Alfred Cortot

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(amongst other works) at a session in ‘C’ Studio of the Small Queen’s Hall on 11th December 1928. Although a Pleyel piano was used for both 1928 sessions there is a noticeable difference in sound quality because most of the sonata was issued from the poorer quality Kingsway Hall recording. Only the Scherzo comes from the ‘C’ Studio session. Cortot infuses his performance with an urgency and sweeping energy throughout; he recorded the work again for HMV at their Abbey Road Studios on 8th July 1933. The Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58, was first set down by Cortot in Paris on 20th and 21st May 1930 but this was not issued. He recorded it again for HMV on 12th May 1931 in London and this was issued on four ten-inch discs from a total of twenty two takes recorded that day. Between 4th and 9th July 1933, however, Cortot recorded a huge amount of Chopin’s music for HMV including the Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49, the Etudes, Op. 10, Berceuse, Op. 57, Tarantelle, Op. 43, Polonaise in A flat, Op. 53, Barcarolle, Op. 60, the complete Preludes, Op. 28, and the Four Impromptus. At this time he also recorded both the B minor and B flat minor piano sonatas and the Four Ballades. All these recordings were made in No. 3 Studio at HMV’s Abbey Road location where the best possible sound of the day could be obtained. It is probably for this reason that HMV issued both Chopin Sonatas from the 1933 sessions even though they already had recordings in their catalogue by Cortot of these works from 1928 and 1931. The 1933 version of the B minor Sonata (completed in only fourteen takes on 6th July) has incredible energy, particularly in the last movement. Of Liszt’s six transcriptions of Chopin’s Polish songs, the Chants Polonais, Op. 74, only two became popular - My Joys and The Maiden’s Wish. These were 4 in the repertoire of practically every pianist of the first half of the twentieth century and have been recorded by such great pianists as Moritz Rosenthal, Ignace Paderewski, Leopold Godowsky and Josef Hofmann. Cortot recorded four of the six songs on 10th March 1939 and two of these, the rarely heard Spring and The Ring were issued. The other two songs recorded at that session were My Joys and The Maiden’s Wish; these were not issued, and My Joys appears here from a test pressing. All were recorded on a Steinway piano and Cortot’s wonderful tone quality can be savoured, particularly in My Joys. At the same recording session Cortot recorded Weber’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in A flat which was issued, and Ravel’s complete Gaspard de la Nuit which was not issued owing to damaged matrices and he unfortunately never recorded the work again. Cortot only recorded Chopin’s Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, Op. 22, complete when he was in Japan in 1952. He recorded just the Polonaise, however, for Victor on 5th February 1923 in Camden, New Jersey. This is the only acoustic recording on this compact disc, but being made right at the end of the acoustic era the sound is particularly good for its age. Critics of Cortot’s technique can be silenced by this stunning performance in which Cortot understands completely Chopin’s use of the decorated melodic line. At nearly five minutes, the side length of the 78 rpm disc is pushed to its limits, and there is a sense of Cortot rushing to the finishing post even though he has already had to make cuts in the work. For such a popular piece, it is surprising that Cortot only made his first recording of the Polonaise in A flat, Op. 53, at the marathon 1933 sessions. The only other issued recording he made of this work comes from Japan in 1952 by which time Cortot was past his prime. The 1933 recording has all the majestic swagger and 8.111065
pomp Cortot could bring to such a work, aided by a well recorded Steinway piano. A recording by Cortot of the Polonaise-Fantasie, Op. 61, was never issued during his lifetime. He had recorded it in 1943 in Paris when he was attempting to set down all of Chopin’s works for French HMV. This was never issued, but he recorded the work again in October 1947 in London during sessions where he was recording works of Chopin that he had not previously recorded such as the Trois Nouvelles Etudes and the two Nocturnes, Op. 55. The recording of the Polonaise- Fantasie is perhaps not the most successful of Cortot’s recordings, certainly the opening is rather more brusque than fantastic, but all of Cortot’s penetrating drive, energy and vision are there, and it certainly deserves to be heard. © 2006 Jonathan Summers Producer’s Note The sources for the recordings featured here were British HMV shellac discs except for the acoustic Grande Polonaise, which came from a U.S. Victor pressing, and the unissued “My Joys”, whose source was a vinyl test pressing. One of the aims of this series of Cortot’s 78-era Chopin recordings is to present versions of these works which have not generally been available on CD, so I have included the 1928 version of the Funeral March Sonata (which EMI passed over in favor of his 1933 remake in their Cortot/Chopin boxed set) and the 1933 version of the B minor Sonata, which makes its first-ever CD appearance here. The B flat minor Sonata was rather dimly recorded and was issued on particularly noisy surfaces; its rarity, however, compels its inclusion in this series. The same applies to the unissued Polonaise-Fantasie, which came from worn shellac tests. Although Cortot recorded the Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise complete in Japan in 1952, its late date puts it beyond the purview of the current series. Mark Obert-Thorn 8.111065 5
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CHOPIN Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3 Polonaises Alfred Cortot

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