The Real Chopin.

[MickyD]

So, for those of us lucky ones who got hold of the 21 disc set for such an amazing price, has anyone started listening? I've just started the first disc with Fou T'Song and if the standard of both playing and recording is this good throughout, I shall be very happy.

The entire works of Chopin on period pianos - how fortunate to live in the age that we do!

[gurnemanz]

Like you, I have just received the Real Chopin set at Amazon's silly price - best bargain for a while. I very much enjoyed Nelson Goerner last night. The texture of the sound on the 1848 Pleyel makes the performance a different sort of experience which I can only assume is akin to "the real Chopin " as they claim.

[Bryn]

I listened to the works with orchestra yesterday afternoon, and the Nocturnes while preparing to sleep. So far I am very pleased indeed with this set. I would recommend it even at its current Amazon price, though not to those allergic to Chopin played on the sort of instruments he wrote for.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'd be interested in sampling this with a single disc. Any suggestions?

[Bryn]

It's A bit soon for anybody here to be able to recommend a particular CD from the survey on the basis of listening. However, I would mention that 2 different instruments were used for the modern recordings (Chopin's own 1847 Pleyel was used for the historic 1948 recording included as disc 00), an 1848 Playel and an 1849 Erard. They are both represented on the disc with the Op. 28 Preludes and the Op. 22 Andante spinato & Grande Polonaise brillante (Wojciech Świtała). That might be a good place to start. It should be noted, however, that buying individual discs is likely to cost far more per disc than buying the whole set for around £80. I note that there are some possibly dodgy downloads available of some of the discs' content.

[amateur51]

It's A bit soon for anybody here to be able to recommend a particular CD from the survey on the basis of listening. However, I would mention that 2 different instruments were used for the modern recordings (Chopin's own 1847 Pleyel was used for the historic 1948 recording included as disc 00), an 1848 Playel and an 1849 Erard. They are both represented on the disc with the Op. 28 Preludes and the Op. 22 Andante spinato & Grande Polonaise brillante (Wojciech Świtała). That might be a good place to start. It should be noted, however, that buying individual discs is likely to cost far more per disc than buying the whole set for around £80. I note that there are some possibly dodgy downloads available of some of the discs' content.

Currently listening to the disc of Préludes and enjoying it very much - some very interesting sonorities and details.

However I'm rather perplexed that the Windows Media player is showing the CD as being by Louis Lortie on Chandos rather than by Wojciech Switala from the Real Chopin Box. I guess that this is a Windows blunder and not another Hatto-gate?

[Bryn]

WinAmp, which accesses Gracenote, identifies it correctly.

[amateur51]

WinAmp, which accesses Gracenote, identifies it correctly.

Cheers, Bryn I guessed as much, not least because of the wonderful sounds that these pianos are making

I'm enjoying this set enormously - and not just because of the price - the familiar made less familiar, and all the better for that

[Bryn]

Pretty much for the Hell of it, I am currently backing the set up to a single Audio DVD+R at 320kbps ac3 (Dolby Digital). I think it should all just about fit, but have not actually bothered to calculate how easily.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Yesterday, I started with Dina Yoffe's recital of Nocturnes, Mazurkas and Scherzos plus the E flat Polonaise and was very excited by the sound of the 1848 Pleyel - such colours and it really does have plenty of beef where required.

I'm now in the middle of the Nelson Goerner disc; he is such a fine pianist and his shaping of the Ballades is simply poetic.

Even at full price, this is well worth the outlay. Indeed, when I first received the disc of songs instead, from an Amazon marketplace seller, I'd decided to save up and buy the set at the £72 asking price (so a lovely surprise to discover Amazon honouring the cheap-as-chips price).

[MickyD]

Yes, I gave the Goerner disc a spin today and quite agree with Il Grande Inquisitor - lovely performances and if there is anyone who doesn't like early pianos reading this, well, I suggest giving some of this series a try. The recorded sound to my mind is well nigh perfect, allowing a very pleasant halo of sound around the old instruments.

[Bryn]

Hmm, re. backing the set up to ADVD+R, it looks like I might be able to just about squeeze the Brilliant Classics "Chopin: His contemporaries and his instruments" 6 CD box's contents on too. Now up to disc 009 (i.e. the tenth disc) of The Real Chopin set now, and still the DVD is due to be only around a third full at this point in Audio DVD Creator's compilation process.

[Bryn]

In the process of backing up the CDs I have found a couple of outer tracks which are problematic. On visualy examining the discs concerned, what appear to be scuffs below the lacquer were revealed. One final track, No. 27 on disc 015, skips and stutters on all but one of the players I have tried it on. Exact Audio Copy rejects it, reporting multiple read errors. I plan to try and intercept a digital stream from the one player that manages to read that track and use the result to compile a complete copy of the disc on a CD-R before sending the disc back to Amazon for replacement.

I recommend that others who have bought this set pay close attention to the final track(s) on each of the discs in the box.

[makropulos]

Bryn, that's an interesting and slightly worrying problem you've got there. It certainly wasn't the case with the single-disc issues (all of which I have). I hope your copy of the set might be a rogue?

[MickyD]

In the process of backing up the CDs I have found a couple of outer tracks which are problematic. On visualy examining the discs concerned, what appear to be scuffs below the lacquer were revealed. One final track, No. 27 on disc 015, skips and stutters on all but one of the players I have tried it on. Exact Audio Copy rejects it, reporting multiple read errors. I plan to try and intercept a digital stream from the one player that manages to read that track and use the result to compile a complete copy of the disc on a CD-R before sending the disc back to Amazon for replacement.

I recommend that others who have bought this set pay close attention to the final track(s) on each of the discs in the box.

Much as I admire the patience that you technical buffs have, it does seem to me that you spend more of your time grappling with these problems rather than just playing and enjoying the music!