さすらい人幻想曲

研ぎ澄まされたタッチと卓越した感性が生み出す儚き美の世界!

ショパン・コンクールの覇者、チョ・ソンジン5枚目のアルバムは、昨年秋の東京でのリサイタルでも披露され、聴衆の度肝を抜いた3曲。研ぎ澄まされた美音と、抑制されるがゆえに危険さを孕む狂気。チョ・ソンジンの新たな一面を垣間見せる名盤の誕生です。

シューベルトが自作の歌曲〈さすらい人〉を第2楽章の変奏主題に用いた《さすらい人変奏曲》。シューベルト自身が上手く弾けず、「こんな曲は悪魔にでも弾かせてしまえ」と言ったと伝えられるほど高度な演奏技術が求められる作品で、リストがロ短調ソナタを作曲する上で大きな影響を与えたといわれる。そして、そのリストのロ短調ソナタから強い影響を受けたベルクのピアノ・ソナタをカップリング。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

Seong-Jin Chos The Wanderer takes its title from Schuberts Fantasy in C major, D. 760, which bears that subtitle, but that work hangs together well with the Berg Piano Sonata, Op. 1, and the Liszt Piano Sonata in B minor that fill out the program. All three works are sonatas of a sort and reflect the persistence of the sonata idea (or its decay, depending on your perspective) in the later Romantic and early modern eras. Pianist Cho both recognizes this unity and builds on it with sharply contrasting performances. His Wanderer Fantasy is clean, Olympian in the Beethovenian polyphony of the last movement, and a trifle restrained. His Berg sonata is Viennese, tuneful, a bit smoky, oriented toward the works late Romantic predecessors more than to the innovations to come. If listeners find these performances competent but unremarkable, they must persist. Chos Liszt Sonata in B minor is an extraordinarily powerful and dramatic performance. Cho is not the first pianist whose inner virtuoso star has been shaken loose by this work, but the pianist has the power to deliver on his considerable ambitions. Sample from the beginning to hear the muscular approach, and be assured that the sweep of the work is uninterrupted. This is a Liszt sonata to stand with those of the giants, and the whole album is well worth the time and money.