Label: Roméo Records | Catalog: 7303 | Release Date: 06/10/2014
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, “Appassionata”
Frédéric Chopin: Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49
Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
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Live Concert Videos
Beethoven: Sonata op. 57 “Appassionata” (Complete)
Chopin: Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 – I. Allegro maestoso
Chopin: Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 – II. Largo; III. Finale
Chopin: Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49
Reviews
“She caresses the notes, milks the music for every expressive possibility, and persuades by a gentle coercion that can be seductive. I loved the opening Allegro maestoso, and had to restrain myself from crying with joy at the Venusian beauty of her playing. As a master of restraint she adds a new interpretive dimension to this often-recorded music… The added touch of restraint works beautifully in a performance that easily reaches the heights.”
“Agranovich will be a major discovery for piano aficionados. This goes considerably beyond the realm of merely good pianism, and the rich bass sonorities of the recording give an added dimension of satisfaction. The pianist also writes her own notes.”
– Alan Becker, American Record Guide Read full review
“Agranovich plays the tight canon in lulling form, the music’s retaining its extraordinary singing power.”
“Agranovich plays luscious chords and rolling arpeggios, resonantly ardent after her ominous “funereal” opening. Pungent declamations in a polonaise rhythm and the rolling arpeggio refrain lead to an orison of uncommon beauty, the serene atmosphere, although ephemeral, persuasively realized by Agranovich’s subtle nuances.”
“Everything about the central Largo evokes an elongated opera aria in the manner of a barcarolle saturated by parlando or recitative passages, the middle section of which rocks us in Agranovich’s right hand triplets most caressingly. The impetuous Finale: Presto con brio thrusts Agranovich into a maelstrom tarantella her Steinway projects with frenetic energy. By the blazing coda, her soaring octaves a crystalline runs have quite swept us into and beyond Chopin’s rarified world to the hot-house vision that engendered the recital as a whole.”
– Gary Lemco, Audiophile Read full review
“In the Sonata No. 3, I was able to compare Agranovich with not only Reisenberg but with Lipatti, Cortot, Cherkassky, and Cliburn—certainly a clutch of outstanding pianists to drawn on. Agranovich does not really resemble any of them but comes closest to Lipatti, who also brought out the structure of the music he played. Yet I found her approach more poetic in places than his, pulling back a bit more on the phrases to allow moments to linger in the mind… Her métier is geared more towards music as architecture: a stylistically direct approach, albeit with fascinating and telling moments of rubato, an evolving sense of both mood and structure as two sides of the same coin, and a smoldering sense of passion in her playing. In short, she is a tigress of the keyboard, yet one who knows just how much to attack and when to pull back. She is a sort of cross between György Cziffra and Dinu Lipatti, a tigress who is also a poet… It is musical brinksmanship of an extraordinarily high order.”
– Lynn René Bayley, Fanfare Read full review
Liner Notes by Sophia Agranovich