Chopin - Piano sonata n°3 - Cortot 1933

Frédéric Chopin
Piano sonata n°3 op.58
I. Allegro maestoso 0:00
II. Scherzo. Molto vivace 8:35
III. Largo 11:09
IV. Finale. Presto, ma non tanto 18:19
Alfred Cortot
Studio recording, London, 6.VII.1933

[@norahdealmeida5847]

In 1933, Cortot was 56 years old. He only had wrong notes when he was much older. He wrote a very good book about piano technique. And well-known editions with special technical exercises.Then he had a ver good technique! And expressive ideas about phrasing.

[@peteklat]

Indeed. I always used his edition of the Chopin Etudes, very helpful.

[@remomazzetti8757]

There are plenty of wrong notes in this performance but it's still one of the best.

[@cvlen]

@@remomazzetti8757 what is a wrong note? (It's a rethoric question!)

[@youexx]

Profound individualist, wasn't afraid to take chances and be different! Marvelous and fascinating - probably incredibly close to what Chopin may have realized

[@goognamgoognw6637]

i think the pleyel design influence a certain way of playing due to its colorful registers and much more singing tone than Steinway, no cloudiness in the bass, and you cannot hide. I say this having had the chance to play a 1848 Pleyel piano like the one owned by Chopin. Pleyel kept part of that tradition alive into the early 20th century even though the piano technology had changed, they preserved immediacy of the touch and Cortot played Pleyel like Chopin, probably the last great pianist that did.

[@The_Guy_Who_Asked_06]

Even in the first 4 measures he brings more passion and drama than most modern-day virtuosi. Bravo, Cortot!

[@davidlasson2558]

He certainly grabs your attention in those four bars, that's for sure--and then you're hooked! And while I wouldn't recommend that a pianist of today break up the two final chords concluding the first movement, but when Cortot does it, it is electrifying.

[@donaldallen1771]

This has long been my favorite performance of this great work. As others have said, Cortot's way with Chopin, when he was at his best, was absolutely unique. Here he *is* at his best, in great form technically (yes, there are some wrong notes, but as Rosina Lhevinne said of Rubinstein's, "what wrong notes!") and he delivers a performance for the ages. When he delays the ascent to the last B-major chord in the left hand at the very end, you just want to scream. Absolutely thrilling.

[@themoroccanpianist8953]

When he delays the ascent to the last B-major chord in the left hand at the very end, you just want to scream, could you precise to me where exactly I can hear this ( which minute )?

[@AlexanderZlatkovski]

@@themoroccanpianist8953 23:06

[@h.s.7734]

コルトーは素晴らしいピアニストだとは色々な本を読んで知っていたけど、ほとんど聞いて来なかった。CDの音があまりにも貧弱でノイズがバチバチいうので。だがこうして聞くと本当に素晴らしい。フルトヴェングラーの言う、「演奏はどれだけ上手いかではなく、どれだけ心に迫るかが大切だ」という言葉を思い出してしまった。 　Great performance! Touching straight my heart. Clear and superb sound quality. Merci beaucoup pour posting.

[@mondnacht-op.3926]

Die wunderbarste Technik! Ohne Zweifeln ist Cortot der adäquate Pianist, um Chopin zu spielen. Gründlich individualistisch, er hat nicht dafür befürchtet, sich auf sein eigenes musikalisches Selbstverständnis zu verlassen, somit Einzig zu sein. Man kann die Warmherzigkeit in jedem Ton spüren.

[@brkahn]

J'ai appris beaucoup de choses sur cette sonate en écoutant cette version, si fluide et si précise à la fois.

[@duwir5959]

Lipati and Gilels played the 3rd sonate of Chopin also great.

[@spfqr4977]

Lipatti was a pupil of Cortot

[@TheErnesto7608]

Ah.. another fascinating recording by Cortot. There is so much uniqueness in his interpretations. If recorded music could have come just thirty years earlier...

[@brkahn]

It did. Welte-Mignon.

[@wannabecat369]

​@@brkahnThey probly meant "30yrs earlier than it did", i.e. around 1860.

[@thecozytrader00]

23:06 THIS MAN WAS A GENIUS! how can someone improvise on this already astounishing sonata?!

[@MrGer2295]

Beautiful! Thanks for posting!

[@ganjamozart1435]

That left hand improv in the largo is magic!

[@nicolasvanpoucke.pianist]

15:35 ?

[@brownosebear8956]

I still can't believe he did that. No modern pianist would dream of being that loose with the score, I think. But it works. Magic indeed. This is my favorite largo...

[@michaelboyd4233]

Agreed. For me, the best Largo I've ever heard. Gorgeous sound, a musical line that just floats, expressive yet tempered rubato and that decorative flight at around 16:55 .....so hard to achieve yet so effortless for him.

[@thecozytrader00]

As Chopin himself would do!

[@71lupenzo710]

Magnificenza ❤️

[@hannastaszak1684]

Chopin to najpiękniejsza spuścizna dla ludzkości. ❤️

[@joelkatz8729]

Magnificent

[@linxi3908]

Unbelievable sound quality!

[@ericastier1646]

analog microphone, analog recording. Digital is not all the great thing it is pretended to be.

[@fredericchopin7538]

Marvelous!

[@noshirm6285]

Hofmann’s recording of the first movement of this work is the finest I’ve ever heard.

[@michelangelomulieri5134]

Fully agree!

[@ericastier1646]

Disagreed. Cortot's is so much better.

[@reginapaulinapereiradefari5608]

Lindo!

[@voraciousreader3341]

@noshirm - So why comment here? What could you possibly hope to achieve? A large firestorm of angry returns? Thankfully, that didn’t happen, presumably because people knew they were being baited.

[@filippoungaretti7095]

Lettura straordinaria:interpretazione assoluta e mai raggiunta : genio musicale ineguagliabile nel quale si realizza il vero Chopin.

[@voraciousreader3341]

Oh….did you hear Chopin play?? How else could you know what he wanted, or how he played this?? “Absolute and never achieved interpretation”…..seriously? I didn’t realize that a God of Piano had ascended Olympus to proclaim absolutes to mere mortals! (I hope my sarcasm translates!)

[@meredith218461]

It is obvious where Dinu Lipatti found his influence for his legendary 1947 recording. The similarity of interpretation between Cortot and his divinely gifted pupil is uncanny. Cortot obviously practised for this recording, his inclination towards muddy passage work and wrong notes is practically non - existent here. When everything came together the playing of Cortot had a compelling expressiveness and special magic.

[@voraciousreader3341]

Those errors happened in old age. *No one* could have achieved the level of adulation as he did by playing “muddy passage work and wrong note.” I should have thought that would be obvious.

[@meredith218461]

@@voraciousreader3341 Please don't misinterpret my personal appraisal of Cortot. He was a musician with a broad perceptive understanding of orchestral, chamber and operatic repertoire. He was a respected teacher conductor and of course a marvellous pianist. It was often intimated that his many artistic commitments prevented the necessary practice time required to technically polish as it were his undoubted pianistic skills. What he did possess and unfailingly communicated was the interior drama poetry and indeed sensuality of a composition. As Barenboim once said Cortot discovered the opium in music. Yes there were technical splashes and wrong notes at times throughout his distinguished career, yet such was the vision and intellectual rigour of the man these technical shortcomings became irrelevant.

[@hellbooks3024]

@@voraciousreader3341ever been to a concert?

[@wannabecat369]

@@voraciousreader3341 Considering that people respected even though he 1. often had technical messes and 2. was a Nazi, it is indeed VERY clear that he had the most incredible musicality, enough to make up for both of those faults! However that doesn't really change the fact that he, while theoretically possessing an excellent technique, was often quite unreliable at producing it.

[@noemiamaria1430]

O extraordinário acontece com as performances de CORTOT

[@albertorossi67]

Inarrivabile

[@themusicalgerbil192]

This recording has been cleaned up beautifully!

[@oneginee]

+Gerbil Jim I don't think it was cleaned up. It was well recorded on the original. And it's Cortot at the keyboard on a Pleyel piano, that is all.

[@papa_mia4495]

I don't think a 33 recording could sound this good, untouched!

[@ericastier1646]

This is not cleaned up, you young generation have no clue. I listened to many 33 and 45 and this is normal quality. For your information and this is scientific, the original 1847 daguerotype portrait of Chopin (which we do not have, we only have a photo of it, and if you don't know the difference then learn), has more resolution and captures more details than the large-format digital pro camera they sell today. And if you don't believe me you can check on wikipedia. If you think quality came in the last 40 years you are wrong.

[@themoroccanpianist8953]

The 3rd movement is somewhat played a bit faster than usual, right?

[@christiankircher369]

thanks to internet all the good recordings cortot did are easily available. when I studied in the 70ties it was very difficult to find them. and the picture of cortot was distorted as the last recordings often were not of that high standard . his golden time was around 1933 . The war did let come his career and productivity to an end which is a sad thing as he would have done much more recordings of best quality otherwise.

[@ericastier1646]

In the 2000 it was relatively easy to find a CD recording of Cortot. The internet was not needed. It existed but was nothing more than text and had zero content

[@superpianofan6850]

Best spontaneous performances: Cortot, Katsaris, Argerich.

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

S. Neuhaus too!

[@remomazzetti8757]

Try Heinrich Neuhaus and Dinu Lipatti.

[@Scherzokinn]

I'll add Blechacz in too. My favorite are Argerich, Blechacz and Cortot.

[@ninatichman7536]

@@Scherzokinn listen to the recent Argerich performance from Hamburg (without audience)

[@jackatherton0111]

Glad you included Katsaris, often overlooked.

[@willlove8440]

Phantom of the opera

[@Younghoonjin]

WOW!!

[@Oak13766]

Genius

[@clintclint8809]

Wow

[@user-nj7hy5vy6p]

Самое гениальное исполнение этого шедевра Шопена.

[@bach5861]

Послушайте Дину Липатти.

[@user-ld5hu9ev6c]

Липатти ученик Корто

[@carloseduardobarrosrodrigu6318]

Sem a menor dúvida foi o melhor intérprete da obra de Chopin e ainda editou pelas Editions Salabert seus comentários dr como bem executar as obras de Chopin e Schumann.

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Lá siguiente no la pusieron.

[@notaire2]

Klare und dynamische Interpretation dieses fein komponierten Meisterwerks im relativ freiwilligen Tempo mit vollig effektiver Dynamik. Die glänzenden Töne seines Klaviers ist immer noch unübertrefflich. Die Tonqualität ist auch erstaunlich hoch als eine Aufnahme von achtzig Jahre vor zur Zeit des Hochladens. Alles ist unvergleichlich!

[@farazhaiderpiano]

One of the most contrapuntal works of Chopin - of course, counterpoint is not the only thing that makes a composition great, there are many other things - but Chopin’s counterpoint here rivals Mozart, who famously wrote a fugue in the finale of his last symphony to prove he could write as excellent counterpoint as J.S. Bach. The voicing is played excellently by Cortot. I have yet to hear Novaes’s rendition, but I suspect it’ll be tough choosing between these two royalty Chopin-pianists.

[@voraciousreader3341]

“Counterpoint” is not what you think it is. Obviously. In music, “counterpoint” means that two or more melody lines are combined into a single harmonic entity in which every voice retains its individuality. Bach and other Baroque composers were masters at this style of composition, which did not carry into the Romantic era, except in occasional pieces. This piece has one melodic voice, which may very occasional change hands, but the rest of the music is accompaniment to that voice.

[@farazhaiderpiano]

@@voraciousreader3341 I do know the definition of counterpoint, and I’m well aware of Bach’s overt use of independent thoughts for different lines. Chopin admired Bach greatly, and indeed embraced counterpoint from Op. 50 onwards, although not in the typical form we are used to seeing. I’m not the person you should be talking to about this though, I am by no means an expert. But there is, as well as I’m aware, alot of counterpoint in Chopin’s later works.

[@user-fp7yf2zs9i]

Cortot はやっぱり素晴らしいですね✨pianoの鳴りが美しいです🎵 コメント欄皆さんChopinのhardcoreなファンな方でしょう。私はBunin(H.Neuhaus's grandson) のChopinが好き💕です。彼のお父様、お祖父様の名前もあがってますね。嬉しいです🎵🙋⤴

[@Palestrina-us8sv]

Wait until you've heard Dinu Lipatti ;)

[@blonda.bacoviana]

I love Lipatti's version. I listen to it almost every day. I feel a little sad when I have to pause his recordings for a few days just so I can discover other brilliant pianists, like Cortot is.

[@themoroccanpianist8953]

At 11:51 , should it be played like that ?

[@mateusrf12]

0:00

[@mateusrf12]

0:01

[@christiankircher369]

cortot does not play chopin he was chopin when playing

[@frankschlemmer9420]

Genau, Chopin war seine "Muttersprache" !

[@alexduio7639]

c est la meilleure interpretation ... french agressive c ca !

[@voraciousreader3341]

So you’ve decided this for the rest of humanity, eh? You really need to incorporate the phrase, *”IN MY [humble] OPINION”* to your comments, or people will laugh derisively.

[@user-hi5gi2gt8b]

Альфред Корто́ ! Лондон ! 1933г. !

[@tatiponce8677]

Es el Padre de los concertustas.

[@voraciousreader3341]

I thought Liszt was.

[@CarmenReyes-em9np]

Quien mejor sabe cómo se interortada Chopinin ? Entre mis libros siempre hubo. un indicácion de Bolet ,pero dices quie fue su 3sposá ,se molestan

[@alexduio7639]

c deja plus agressif ... k les pseudo joueurs d chopin ... serieux c une bataille cette sonate sinon vous avez pas compris

[@tatiponce8677]

No fue de mi año que pena. Correría todo lo mal copiado de Chopin.

[@arro08107]

ちょっと顔が怖すぎる

[@gabriele6596]

This sonata is all progressions and technique. The part very musical are very few.

[@thecozytrader00]

Shut up, you know nothing about music.

[@davisatdavis1]

I hate modern pianos.