Review: Chopin Voyage - Yulianna Avdeeva, Piano

Yulianna Avdeeva’s latest release comes 14 years after she won the XVI International Chopin Competition; it spotlights his late works, including the third piano sonata in B Minor. In the decade and a half span, she’s released a handful of albums featuring Bach to Mieczyslaw Weinberg—but a strong point of gravitation has always been Chopin.

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This partnership with Montana’s Tippet Rise Arts Center features a special instrument: This is Steinway’s CD-18, previously owned by Vladimir Horowitz. It was used in Eugene Istomin’s 1956 recording of Rachmaninoff’s second piano concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy for Colombia (now available by Sony Classical). In that classic recording, it had a shallow action and a sharp attack on all registers, just as Horowitz preferred. It is not, it’s worth mentioning, Horowitz’ instrument that was gifted to him for his wedding and that he kept on his New York apartment, and used for his later recordings and performances.

Nowadays, the instrument has an echo of what it sounded like on the Istomin recording, yet it’s much rounder and warmer in tone, with a distinctly mellow personality. And let’s not forget this is a current digital recoding (also available on Dolby Atmos) and a different pianist. Be that as it may, Avdeeva plays to its nuances and takes a more subtle approach to interpretation when we compare her more vibrant Chopin Preludes release from 2014.

The Op. 61 Polonaise-Fantaisie is very much a study in harmonic color, Chopin reiterates motivic material in different keys. An effective performance manages to capture these variations alongside the distinct character changes. Avdeeva is successful in this regard when it comes to the quieter moments; this is where we can appreciate her full gamut of pianos and pianissimos. Yet earlier in the piece, Avdeeva sounds as though trying to avoid overpowering the listener. Fortunately, she does seem to find her expressive footing midway through the work.

As in the previous work, Avdeeva shows cautious restraint in the third piano Sonata: Her sound is rounded and pleasing, yet what should be a present and dramatic opening lacks the emphatic tone and necessary crescendos (listen to Nelson Freire to get a more intense and assertive account). I was hoping that the subdued approach was part of a plan to play into the nuances of Chopin’s writing, but that doesn’t seem to be the case going by the D major section: the fluidity is certainly there, but far removed form the arresting bel canto lyricism of Leif Ove Andsnes’.

The Scherzo (track 6) is elegant and well-played, but rather pale compared to Rafał Blechacz (DG). The difference is in the latter’s articulation which, while pointed and very dry, infused the passages with a firecracker-like energy. Avdeeva’s slow movement, however, is lovely, and she channels the warmth of the Steinway beautifully in the contoured melodies.

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Avdeeva mentions in her liner notes that the Mazurka is one of her favorite genres. And indeed, the Op. 59 set shows her at her freest. the A minor (track 9) has the buoyancy of the Mazurka dance, but also highlights hidden inner voices. The A-flat major (track 10) charms with its gaiety while the final F-sharp minor brings the assertive drama I wish I’d heard in the sonata.

I wouldn’t say that these are the most vibrant performances across the board, nor that they change my preferred listening references. However, Avdeeva is at her best in the smaller form works, which make the album still worth the listen.