A fellow piano critic alerted me to the young Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva’s Chopin Études, praising them to the skies as he urged me to hear them at the earliest opportunity. I don’t quite share my friend’s unequivocal enthusiasm, but much of Chochieva’s playing indeed is outstanding, especially in the Op. 10 group.
Her suave arpeggios in No. 1 are propelled by a strong and shapely cantus firmus bass. No. 2’s chromatic 16th-notes are a model of lightness and evenness, complemented by colorful voicings in the accompaniment. Note the pianist’s subtle ebb and flow throughout No. 3, although she softens the central climax’s cutting edge. No. 4’s ambidextrous interplay and variety of articulations drive the music without pounding it out. At the end of her lithe and supple No. 5 “Black Key” étude, Chochieva waits a half second before slamming down the concluding descending octaves in tempo; most pianists broaden this passage.
Some listeners will like the gentle transparency with which Chochieva layers No. 6’s main melody, curling inner voice and organ-like bass lines. For my taste, the music’s wrenching harmonic felicities need more force, mobility, and dynamism in the manner of Alfred Cortot’s genius interpretation. No. 7’s mega-secure double notes and No. 8’s glittery arpeggios take a back seat to thoughtfully phrased left-hand counterlines. Chochieva handles No. 9’s Allegro molto without apparent effort, yet the music’s turbulent, agitato qualities elude her, as does No. 10’s climactic build-up. However, Chochieva gorgeously dispatches No. 11’s taxing arpeggiated chords, and makes the “Revolutionary” No. 12’s salient points by way of rhythmic exactitude, forceful accents, and wide dynamic contrasts.
The first three Op. 25 Études are a shade sedate, yet Chochieva’s sophisticated melodic phrasing plays nicely against No. 4’s “stride piano” texture. Her soft-grained parsing of No. 5 goes in one ear and out the other, in contrast to Boris Berezovsky’s firmer contours and more imaginative voicings. While No. 6’s right-hand double thirds couldn’t be more even or better controlled, Chochieva keeps the interesting left-hand writing on a uniformly bland level. By contrast, her left hand speaks with power and authority in the “Winter Wind” No. 11, as the taxing right-hand figurations glitter and sparkle. Chochieva builds No. 12’s sweeping two-handed arpeggios from the bottom up, again bringing the cantus firmus bass to the fore.
Chochieva eases her way into the F minor Nouvelle étude, slightly hesitating on the opening triplet, but her mushy left-hand articulation misses the étude’s technical and musical point, where one must articulate right-hand triplet quarter notes against left-hand duplet eighth notes. She plays many of the A-flat étude’s three-against-two patterns incorrectly by executing the second note of left-hand duplets as a triplet upbeat. On the other hand, Chochieva’s excellent D-flat étude staccato/legato differentiation deserves high praise. The engineering is natural and realistic, and David Moncur’s annotations are first-class all the way.
