This is the fifth volume in Joyce Hatto’s complete
Chopin edition. A piano pupil of Serge Krish she also studied composition
with Mátyás Seiber and with Hindemith, subsequently receiving
some advanced guidance from Cortot. On record she is perhaps best remembered
for her Bax, which I hope will soon be restored to the catalogue, but
Concert Artist/Fidelio has recently recorded her in a slew of works
– not just Chopin, but a harvest of Brahms and much else; see their
website (noted above) for more information because Hatto releases are
coming thick and fast.
It’s not simply because of some residual recollection
of Cortot’s imperishable way with Chopin I’m sure that makes Hatto’s
own playing so intriguing. She possesses a singular virtue, which I
can best define as a sense of concentrated space, and she amply demonstrates
its application in the Allegro maestoso of the E minor. She makes chords
count and notes take their place in the considered order of things.
There is no lax or decorative prettifying of the line, though there
is generosity and simplicity in abundance, but rather a concentrated
and accumulated wisdom in both touch and phrasing. This she can quite
sternly contrast with moments of abrasion (as in the same opening movement)
thus generating and demonstrating proper contrastive material. Her runs
are securely and expertly weighted. She has a beautiful tone. In the
Romance she is successful at bringing out the sense of occasional fantasy
as well as a delightfully generous sensitivity to nuance and colour
and in the Rondo finale all is well; graciousness and well characterized
humour lace the score. The balance favours her here and the orchestra
lacks body and immediacy but not enough to impede the jaunty climax
of a most satisfying traversal of this by no means easy work. In the
F minor those virtues that illuminated the E minor are palpably on display.
Sometimes in performance one feels that the Maestoso opening movement
lacks cohesion, becomes sectional; not here. Hatto has an impressive
sense of architectural line and her fluency and sense of definable direction,
of the rise and fall of the music, are most impressive. Delicacy of
touch and poetic nuance light the Larghetto from within but never at
the expense of rhythmic spine; with Joyce Hatto poetic insight is always
accompanied by secure compositional awareness. The finale is suitably
energized and convincing.
These recordings were set down over a two-day period,
5th and 6th October 1994, at a favoured Concert
Artist/Fidelio recording location, Watford Town Hall. The results are
poetic and enjoyable, full of fluency and deftness; more than these
even, they are full of musical understanding.
Jonathan Woolf
see also
JOYCE
HATTO -
A Pianist of Extraordinary Personality and Promise:
Comment and Interview by Burnett James
MusicWeb
can offer the complete Concert
Artist catalogue
Joyce Hatto (piano) 
