Chopin: Piano Works Nelson Goerner

• 1 Polonaise No. 5 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 44 10:34
• 2 Berceuse in D-Flat Major, Op. 57 04:24
• 3 Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Op. 60 08:31
• 4 No. 1 in C Major 00:30
• 5 No. 2 in A Minor 01:55
• 6 No. 3 in G Major 00:56
• 7 No. 4 in E Minor 01:49
• 8 No. 5 in D Major 00:33
• 9 No. 6 in B Minor 01:52
• 10 No. 7 in A Major 00:42
• 11 No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor 01:41
• 12 No. 9 in E Major 01:20
• 13 No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor 00:31
• 14 No. 11 in B Major 00:39
• 15 No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor 01:13
• 16 No. 13 in F-Sharp Major 02:46
• 17 No. 14 in E-Flat Minor 00:33
• 18 No. 15 in D-Flat Major, Raindrop 04:38
• 19 No. 16 in B-Flat Minor 01:05
• 20 No. 17 in A-Flat Major 02:45
• 21 No. 18 in F Minor 00:53
• 22 No. 19 in E-Flat Major 01:25
• 23 No. 20 in C Minor 01:20
• 24 No. 21 in B-Flat Major 01:36
• 25 No. 22 in G Minor 00:45
• 26 No. 23 in F Major 00:49
• 27 No. 24 in D Minor 02:58
• Total Runtime 58:43

Info for Chopin: Piano Works

Clarity of form and colour, the piano as a narrator and ballad-singer: Nelson Goerner has his own way of interpreting Chopin, and he shows it here in a varied recital programme ranging from major works like the famous B minor Sonata through the Nocturnes to the F minor Ballade.

„EMI’s Debut series recalls DG’s long-defunct but similarly invaluable venture; a golden opening for young artists of exceptional talent. Nelson Goerner is Argentinian, 28 years old, a student of Maria Tipo, and devotes his most personal and inflammatory recital to Chopin’s later masterpieces. A player of exalted poetic verve he invariably suggests a live rather than studio response.

How fearlessly he launches the B minor Sonata’s imperious opening, never using Chopin’s maestoso instruction as an excuse for undue rhetoric or inflation. Even the startling sense of hiatus contained in the first movement repeat (can this really be authentic?) makes sense given such voltage and intensity. His second movement Scherzo is as colourful as it is volatile and in the Largo the playing is, again, gloriously free-spirited and keenly felt. His transition out of the Polonaise-Fantaisie’s central Piu lento, back to Chopin’s principal idea, shows a compelling sense of the composer’s depth and introspection, and if his choice of the Fourth Scherzo is surprising, given such seriousness, he is once more brilliantly attuned to one of Chopin’s most elusive and mercurial major-key flights of fancy. The C minor Nocturne pulses with a profound sense of elegy, its central octaves fired off like so many ceremonial cannons, and Goerner makes something very special out of the Fourth Ballade’s coda, tempering Chopin’s bravura with a fine sense of melodic intricacy.

Finally, while EMI could have usefully told us which Chopin edition is used, they have provided this most personal and distinctive artist with an impressively bold and spacious recording.“ (Gramophone)

Nelson Goerner, piano

Nelson Goerner
Born in San Pedro, Argentina, Nelson Goerner has established himself as one of the foremost pianists of his generation. After studying in Argentina with Jorge Garrubba, Juan Carlos Arabian and Carmen Scalcione, he was awarded First Prize in the Franz Liszt Competition in Buenos Aires in 1986. This led to a scholarship to work with Maria Tipo at the Geneva Conservatoire, and in 1990 Nelson Goerner won the First Prize at the Geneva Competition.

Nelson Goerner has performed throughout Europe including at the Salzburg Festival, La Roque d'Anthéron, La Grange de Meslay, Edinburgh, Schleswig-Holstein and Verbier festivals, and in halls such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the South Bank Centre and Wigmore Hall in London, and at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He has also performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Claus Peter Flor, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchestra of Berlin under Andrew Davis, the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Emmanuel Krivine, the Hallé Orchestra under Mark Elder, the Suisse Romande with Neemi Jarvi and Raphael Fruhbeck de Burgos, the Vienna Symphony, Sinfonia Varsovia, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo under Fabio Luisi. He performs regularly at the BBC Proms. In the USA and Canada, his appearances have included performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

Mr Goerner has performed chamber music with the Takács Quartet, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman and Vadim Repin, and duo recitals with the mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch. He also performs repertoire for two pianos with Martha Argerich, Alexander Rabinovich, and with his wife Rusudan Alavidze.

Mr Goerner's future concerts will include performances with the Orchestra of the Suisse Romande and the Weimar Staatskapelle, as well as recital appearances in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Vancouver, Washington DC, Minneapolis and Buenos Aires.

Mr Goerner's discography includes recordings of Chopin, Rachmaninov, Liszt and Busoni, and a DVD of repertoire by Beethoven and Chopin in a live performance from the Verbier Festival. His recording of Chopin for the Frederic Chopin Institute of Warsaw, performed on original instruments, was awarded the Diapason d'Or, and his Chopin recording on the Wigmore Hall Live label was instrumental Choice of the Month in BBC Music Magazine. His most recent recording, of Debussy, for the Outhere/ZigZag Territoires label was recently awarded the Diapason d'Or of the Year 2013.

Booklet for Chopin: Piano Works