Hyperion continues
its re-issuing of Demidenko’s early-90s
recordings of Chopin piano music with
this enterprising disc. Actually, it
could be enterprising to some and frustrating
to others, as almost all the Polonaises
a casual buyer may want are all missing.
What we get are all the composer’s early
efforts at the form, some dating from
when he was a precocious 7-year-old,
juxtaposed with one established masterpiece,
the Polonaise-Fantasy, and a
miscellaneous selection that are mostly
worth having.
All the early Polonaises
are quite short affairs and follow a
fairly strict structural format. They’re
attractive, but don’t expect the gritty
memorability of, say, the more mature
Op.44 in F sharp minor. One of the most
endearing here is the G flat, but even
that has had doubts cast as to its authenticity.
Demidenko clearly enjoys himself, though
he can be a shade aggressive in some
places. When we come to the great Polonaise-Fantasy,
he gets up to his old trick of muting
some of the big fortissimo chords down
to more like mezzo-forte, something
he did to better effect in his Scherzos
disc. It’s got some good things in it,
but ultimately I don’t find him as convincing
as Pollini (DG, coupled with a selection
of later, more famous Polonaises).
The shorter individual
pieces are also a mixed bag. He plays
the Bolero (more akin, in Chopin’s
treatment, to a Polonaise) with
real relish and dash, producing cascades
of glittering passagework. But then,
a tiny masterpiece like the delectable
Berceuse is slightly disfigured
by not maintaining the ostinato pulse
that Chopin obviously intended, Demidenko
indulging in unnecessary rubato from
one ‘variation’ to the next. I much
prefer Perahia’s beautifully controlled
reading on Sony, where simplicity of
utterance and understatement are the
order of the day.
So, a bit of a mixed
bag perhaps to be sampled first. Excellent
piano sound and recording.
Tony Haywood
Nikolai Demidenko (piano) 
