Chopin CDs

[berrt]

Which Chopin CDs could i use as "reference" recordings? I mainly think of waltzes and mazurkas.

Bye
Berrt

[stormx]

Hi !!

I have recently bought a CD with the complete Chopin Waltzes and Impromptus by Cziffra and like it. 

I have read somewhere that Cziffra is not considered a very good Chopin interpreter, so it is probably not a "reference recording", according to music experts, but i have no enough knowledge to judge that opinion.

On the other hand, being budget-limited, i tend not to buy many different versions of the same pieces, because i prefer to expand my CD collection with new pieces. So, i did not listen to any other COMPLETE set of the Chopin Waltzes to compare.

[dj]

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[dj]

Which Chopin CDs could i use as "reference" recordings? I mainly think of waltzes and mazurkas.

Bye
Berrt

well for chopin in general, i'd go with rubinstein's recordings....others may have personal favorites....but rubinstein is certainly a "reference" as you put it and should be easy enough to find.....but y just the waltzes and mazurkas? what about the etudes? the ballades? the nocturnes? the scherzos? etc...u'd certainly be missing out on the chopin experience if you stuck only to two kinds of works!

[brewtality]

waltzes- Lipatti, Mazurkas- Rubinstein

[berrt]

but y just the waltzes and mazurkas?

Just to start with chopin's work. But if there is a box "chopin complete" (a rather big one, i guess) that would be fine too!

Bye
Berrt

[SteinwayTony]

well for chopin in general, i'd go with rubinstein's recordings....others may have personal favorites....but rubinstein is certainly a "reference" as you put it and should be easy enough to find.....but y just the waltzes and mazurkas? what about the etudes? the ballades? the nocturnes? the scherzos? etc...u'd certainly be missing out on the chopin experience if you stuck only to two kinds of works!

Rubinstein is my personal favorite interpreter; I'd never entrust the delicate waltzes and mazurkas to Cziffra.  Rubinstein's disc of the Ballades and Scherzi (and Tarantelle) is one of my favorites, in fact, I literally wore out the first one and had to buy another.  It's part of the Rubinstein Collection on RCA Red Seal.  Rubinstein also has, on the same label, complete recordings of the Waltzes and Mazurkas.

[SteinwayTony]

Just to start with chopin's work. But if there is a box "chopin complete" (a rather big one, i guess) that would be fine too!

Bye
Berrt

I believe DG put out a Complete Chopin Edition a few years ago.  It's probably expensive as hell though.  Careful, though, because "complete edition" box sets are rarely "reference recordings."  A case in point is Leslie Howard's set of Liszt.  Though not a box set, Howard recorded all of Liszt's piano music -- a colossal project for which he deserves fitting recognition, but much of it just does not fit Liszt's character.