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The Handel Project / Handel: 3 Suites; Brahms: Handel Variations
Seong-Jin Cho, piano
Deutsche Grammophon, 2023
The new CD by pianist Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 2015 Warsaw Chopin Competition, revolves around Handel. The disc contains three Suites by the composer; the Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, by Johannes Brahms; the Sarabande from the Suite in B-flat major, HWV 440; and the arrangement by Wilhelm Kempff of the Minuet from the Suite in B-flat major, HWV 434.
The CD opens with the Adagio from the Suite in F major, HWV 427, which Cho interprets with balance in ornamentation. The fourth movement, a contrapuntal Allegro, is rendered with brilliant articulation and structural clarity. In the Suite in E major, HWV 430, the prelude is played with a beautiful narrative quality and colouristic variety, while the Aria with Variations, famously known as The Harmonious Blacksmith, is rendered with subtle balance, without neglecting brilliance.
The CD continues with the Brahms Variations, composed from the Aria of the Suite in B-flat major, HWV 434. Cho plays it with a baroque spirit filled with dynamic contrasts and rhythmic sharpness. This work, together with the Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9, another Brahmsian architectural masterpiece, represents a compositional apex of the genre. Each variation is a world unto itself, yet linked to the previous one. The space of action is for this reason little, but the pianist manages to characterize these alternations of character, sometimes sweet now tumultuous, now languid now rhythmic. See, for example, Variations 8 and 9: the first rhythmic but graceful, with an ostinato and a melody that intersect; the second extremely chromatic, on the border between drama and introspection. The last three variations, proudly rhythmic and fully Brahmsian in writing, include a splendid fugue. Cho ably manages to unravel the narrative thread of this masterpiece.
The rhythmic character of the Minuet, in Wilhelm Kempff’s arrangement, is overshadowed in favour of a more lyrical conception. The intensity of the performance increases as the counterpart voices appear into the texture. Cho succeeds in rendering this contemplative and placid character—one of the peculiar characteristics of his playing is the sound, extremely delicate and rich in nuances. In this repertoire, the pianist also gives proof of crystalline clarity.
This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
Francais (French)
