Chopin: Complete Mazurkas, Vol. 2
Peter Jablonski (piano)
Ondine ODE 1431-2 73:49 mins
Though the mazurka is a country dance rooted in the Polish region of Mazovia, it can be difficult for modern listeners to imagine it played on folk instruments. Thanks to Chopin – also to some earlier composers and many following him – it has long been established as a pianistic form and perhaps the greatest artistic manifestation of Polish cultural identity. It’s unsurprising that Peter Jablonski, the Swedish pianist with half-Polish roots, has played mazurkas by various composers throughout his career.
Here in the second volume of Jablonski’s complete Chopin mazurkas, he finishes his chronological journey with Opp 50 to 68 – strictly speaking, however, chronology becomes blurred since the last two sets were published posthumously in 1855, comprising pieces written as early as 1827 and as late as 1849, the year of Chopin’s death. Yet date order is unimportant, and Jablonski opens by gathering up several early mazurkas also issued posthumously but without opus numbers, including the C major piece of contested authorship.
As the first track, the Mazurka in B flat major (1826) comes across with lively charm and vitality, but alas it’s the sort of liveliness that when repeated too often begins to sound studied. Jablonski’s playing can be a bit spikey and hard-edged, and his energy unrelenting, especially when such close recording gives the piano (not to mention the listener) little breathing room. Taken individually the performances are fine, but it is a relief to reach the last track, the Mazurka in F minor – sometimes described as Chopin’s saddest piece – one in which the ‘Tristan’ chord is anticipated. Curiously, though, Jablonski scarcely glances at its tonal ambiguities. John Allison