VIRTUOSO FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN / DMITRY ISHKHANOV on NAVONA RECORDS / Review

VIRTUOSO

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN

DMITRY ISHKHANOV, Piano

Navona Records NV6372

 

How exactly does one define a “virtuoso”? Is that someone who can master the most technically difficult exercises, proficiently making the seemingly impossible appear like child’s play? Or is it much more than that? That the creations of Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) come from a virtuoso mind is without doubt, but is this début album by young Maltese-Russian Dmitry Ishkhanov worthy of its title?

 

The four early Mazurkas of Op.17 are not virtuoso fodder, but the 16-year-old infuses these miniatures with an aching nostalgia and the Polish sense of heimat, the secure feeling of being at home. The celebrated A minor Mazurka (No.4) is taken at a measured pace, and that works because it is allowed to breathe whole-heartedly while maintaining the vital triple-time rhythm and pulse. The Nocturne in C sharp minor (Op.27 No.1) smoulders with intent, then catches fire in its central climax. As the album plays for under 55 minutes, surely there should have included its companion, the D flat major Nocturne (Op.27 No.2), if anything to better appreciate Ishkhanov’s feel for cantabile.

 

In the 12 Études of Op.25, one finally arrives in true-blue virtuoso territory. That Chopin’s myriad technical challenges hold no terrors for Ishkhanov comes as little surprise. He tosses off the runs of  treacherous thirds in the G sharp minor Étude (No.6) with nonchalant ease, while the stampeding octaves of the B minor Étude (No.10) do not sound blindingly fast but delivered with specific purposes in mind. That is to highlight the melting lyricism of its soft centre, and a similar experience may be enjoyed in the E minor “Wrong note” Étude (No.5). In the C sharp minor “Cello” Étude (No.7), the art of bel canto is in full flow, thus revealing the true secrets of his virtuosity. He has the sensibility of a poet, not the “shock and awe” modus operandi of the common garden child prodigy, and the maturity of one double or thrice his chronological age.

 

Come 2025, watch out Warsaw and the 19^th Chopin International Piano Competition, a winner is coming your way!