Olga Kern’s high level of technical sheen in the Second and Third Chopin sonatas cannot be disputed, despite the ups and downs of her musicality. You’ll notice the B-flat minor first movement’s seemingly endless fermatas and the motto theme vulgarly elongated at the development section’s outset, as well as impressive, crisply delineated triplet chords. The Scherzo’s outer sections are powerfully projected yet stolid in their impact, while the Trio’s swan diving diminuendos and exploratory inner voices make you wonder if pianos have a slow-motion lever.
The promise of a 10-minute plus March funèbre led me to project a corpse lying in state rather than being carried to the grave, yet Kern’s resolute steadiness and half-pedaled soft playing had me spellbound. The pianist’s poise, control, and unusual accentuations in the two-handed unison finale also will keep her colleagues honest. Unfortunately she inserts that slight pause before the final two chords that Rachmaninov and Horowitz favored: a “traditional” gesture that dissipates Chopin’s intended shock.
Although the B minor’s Allegro maestoso is a bit heavy and square, it’s nonetheless refreshing to hear an unsentimentalized second subject played more-or-less at the same tempo as the main theme. The brief Scherzo isn’t the lightest and fleetest around, yet it showcases Kern’s detaché articulation at its colorful best. And given Kern’s propensity for dragging slow movements, I’m pleasantly surprised and delighted at her fluent, rhythmically firm Largo. But the Finale falls flat on account of Kern’s slightly labored broadenings in the second theme, and when she picks up the pace for the coda, it’s too little too late. Granted, Kern truly observes Chopin’s Allegro ma non tanto directive, but so does Emil Gilels, with a stronger sense of continuity and direction.
If you detect a difference in sonority between both sonatas, it’s because the works were recorded in different venues, and on different instruments: a Steinway for Op. 35, and a Yamaha for Op. 58.
