Pianist Seong-Jin Cho won the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2015 and was promptly signed to the Deutsche Grammophon label. He soon released a recording of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11. Listeners have had to wait five years for its successor, but they'll find that the wait was worth it; the performance of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 (actually the earlier of Chopin's two youthful concertos), effectively showcases the explosive style of this artist. The two concertos ...
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Pianist Seong-Jin Cho won the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2015 and was promptly signed to the Deutsche Grammophon label. He soon released a recording of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11. Listeners have had to wait five years for its successor, but they'll find that the wait was worth it; the performance of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 (actually the earlier of Chopin's two youthful concertos), effectively showcases the explosive style of this artist. The two concertos show Chopin's style right on the cusp of full development, and it takes a bit of imagination to tease out what was happening. Cho's performance is anything but a safe competition entry. From the commanding first entrance of the piano in the concerto, he generates a tumultuous mood in which waves seem to run through the layers of ornamentation. His is a high-contrast reading with calm passagework in the slow central movement and in the lyrical sections, and he applies plenty of tempo...
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