Frederic Chopin
A huge part of Frederic Chopin’s music was composed for solo piano, or for piano and orchestra. Here and there are a few chamber music pieces, but these are not many.
Yesterday I heard the wonderful violinist, Joshua Bell, perform an arrangement of Chopin’s Nocturne number 20 in C-Sharp minor. This was originally composed for piano alone in 1830, and Joshua Bell created a version in which he performs the melody, with piano accompaniment. Mr. Bell is a wonderfully expressive musician, so this piece comes off really well, as you can judge from the following video:
Chopin wanted this piece to be played with “con gran espressione”, meaning “with great expressiveness. And certainly Mr. Bell presents the piece that way.
Now I will show you a few interpretations of the same piece played by piano alone, by a variety of artists. You be the judge, as to which one you find expresses the composer’s emotion in the manner most meaningful to you:
Here is an interpretation by Daniel Barenboim:
And now, here is Vladimir Ashkenazy:
And finally, listen to Claudio Arrau perform the same piece:
The three pianists are all wonderful, and I have a slight preference for Ashkenazy’s performance. What about you? If you wish, you may leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
Tags: Chopin, Nocturne number 20 in C-Sharp minor, violin, Joshua Bell, Ashkenazy, Barenboim
Violinists have been playing that nocturne in Milstein’s arrangement for decades or more. It’s not at all original to Bell. I’ve always preferred the violin version mainly because it dispenses with Chopin’s quirky, seemingly unfinished re-transition section.
Thanks for your comment; I did not know that the arrangement was by Milstein; I always enjoyed Milstein’s playing of the Bach solo sonatas…
Hank