This 15-disc collection offers fairly comprehensive documentation of the 15th International Chopin Competition that took place between October 2 and 24, 2005 in Warsaw. Discs 1 through 5 present what the set’s producers (or perhaps the jurors?) consider the best performances of each single first-round participant. It appears that short works dominated the required first-round repertoire: Etudes, Waltzes, Impromptus, Nocturnes, and the Berceuse. A few adventurous contestants trotted out relative rarities like the Tarantella, the Op. 1 and Op. 16 Rondos, and the Op. 12 Variations. Several Scherzo performances from round one also were deemed worthy of inclusion.
Discs 6 through 8 respectively showcase three pianists (Rafal Blechacz, Nobuyuki Tsujii, and Takashi Yamamoto) who made it to the semi-finals in performances from both first and second rounds. (Of these three, Yamamoto went on to the finals, as did Blechacz, who ultimately won first prize). Discs 9 and 10 contain the “best performances” from the remaining semi-finalists.
With Round Two, new repertoire enters the playing field: Chopin’s Mazurkas, his Second and Third Sonatas, and the Polonaises. The latter genre is represented only by multiple performances of the A-flat “Heroic” Polonaise and the Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Op. 22. Curiously, none of the four Ballades appears in this collection. Was that a repertoire restriction? From there we move to discs 11 through 14 and the final round, where the six remaining contestants choose one of Chopin’s two Concertos (Blechacz and Yamamoto, along with Jacek Kortus and Dong Min Lim, play the E minor, while Rieko Nezu and Dong Hyek Lim opt for the F minor), accompanied by Antoni Wit and the Warsaw Philharmonic. Disc 14 also includes solos from Dong Hyek Lim and Dong Min Lim, the two brothers who shared third prize (no second prize was awarded).
The 15th and final CD features the newly proclaimed victor Rafal Blechacz in a brief solo program that includes performances of the Op. 56 Mazurkas, Op. 64 Nos. 1 and 2 Waltzes, and the A-flat Polonaise that are more relaxed than those on disc 6, plus an overly languid Debussy Claire de Lune for an encore.
Not surprisingly, the level of technical proficiency proves consistently high throughout the competition, although levels of musical maturity vary. For example, some of the first-round Etude performances race from the starting gate and leave all brains behind. You also can readily hear why Blechacz’s Chopin E minor earned him a special “best concerto performance” award, for he brings a wider scope of nuance and personal poetry to the score than his fellow competitors, notably in the slow movement and in the finale’s opening theme. On the other hand, the lyric flexibility and fabulous sense of line distinguishing Yamamoto’s Barcarolle outclasses Blechacz’s more studied, less lilting interpretation.
And certain pianists who didn’t make it past round one turn in ear-catching performances that any world-class artist would be happy to claim. I’m thinking of Sonja Fräki’s insightful, tellingly proportioned A-flat Impromptu, and a group of four selections where Howard Na reveals a healthy individualistic streak that makes me want to hear him in works by other composers.
Aside from short artist bios, documentation is skimpy. I for one would have found a cross-indexed table of contents helpful in order to facilitate comparisons. However, the recording quality is quite good, considering its primarily archival purpose. In sum, this release is bound to fascinate hardcore piano buffs, Chopin mavens, and competition groupies.
