DAVID KOREVAAR

• Frédéric Chopin: Barcarolle in F-sharp major

“[David Korevaar] presents a brilliant recital of twelve compositions by Chopin... The works chosen present a satisfying recital program... Korevaar skillfully brings to life the elegance, beauty, and emotion associated with the music of Chopin. His always sensitive use of dynamics combined with a clear understanding of the many moods and styles of Chopin’s music is in each of these twelve tracks presented with the utmost clarity and emotion. This recording is exceptional both for its particular selection of pieces and also because it is always a pleasure to listen to David Korevaar..”

Kim McCormick, Pan Pipes [Spring 2018]

“Given David Korevaar's penchant for putting together interesting and cohesive concert programmes, it's not surprising that his all-Chopin disc embraces many moods and styles... [Korevaar's playing has a] Full-bodied sonority and huge dynamic range... [The] revelatory interpretation alone [of the G minor Ballade] is worth the disc's price.”

Jed Distler, Gramophone [December 2016]

“Korevaar’s album is a textbook case of how much is to be gained by having Chopin played by a pianist in his artistic maturity. It’s not just the greater consideration and emotional substance to be heard in the interpretations. It even affects something as distinctive as tone... Throughout this CD one hears Korevaar weighing his chords so that he creates a tone always suitable to the substance of the music... Korevaar is an especially searching and inquisitive artist... Korevaar is a pianist who has earned our attentiveness to his Chopin, instead of a nymphet in a designer gown... The lovely sound Korevaar gets is due in part to the beautiful Kawai piano he plays... The pianist has an especially slow and gorgeous approach to Chopin’s nocturnes. [Korevaar’s mazurkas] have a beguiling rhythmic lift... Korevaar’s Berceuse is the best I’ve ever heard. The counterpoint is beautifully captured without interrupting the music’s bel canto flow... The CD’s sound engineering is excellent... I would recommend [this CD] to anyone for whom Chopin is not a momentary melodic gratification, but rather a deeply considered condensation of reality. It ain’t kid stuff.”

Dave Saemann, Fanfare [November/December 2016]

“David Korevaar chooses an interesting collection of pieces for his first all-Chopin disc... Korevaar plays Chopin like a seasoned master. The two Ballades are given splendid performances... [Korevaar's] grasp on Chopin's mixture of passion and elegance, with his creamy tone and wide-ranging, subtly employed dynamics, is as artistically sensitive and convincing as in almost any other performance you're likely to encounter in the concert hall or on record... The dreamy, tranquil side of Chopin finds Korevaar in especially fine form: try the lovely aforementioned D-flat major Nocturne and notice how the pianist's rich velvety tone and tender phrasing seem to make the music float serenely in heavenly skies... the three Mazurkas are also played quite convincingly... thanks to the pianist's wide-ranging dynamics, as well as his unerring sense in grasping the emotional character of the music... The sound reproduction is vivid and well balanced... Korevaar has emerged in recent years as a major artist... I highly recommend this new Chopin disc. ”

Robert Cummings, Classical Net [October 2016]

“Pianist David Korevaar pushes Chopin in the direction of Impressionism in a fascinating and very well-played...recital for MSR Classics... Korevaar has a marvelous understanding of this music, and is a very fine pianist and, for that matter, an excellent interpreter of Chopin. There is nothing to fault here in the expressive nature of his performances or the finely honed pianism that he uses to bring forth the varying emotional elements of these dozen works... There is a great deal to enjoy in this very well-played recital...”

Mark J. Estren, InfoDad [September 2016]

“[David Korevaar] brings to these timeless masterworks an approach that makes them sound newly minted, which is helped by the lovely sound of his Shigeru EX piano.”

Laurence Lewis, CMD, UK [September 2016]

“American pianist David Korevaar has his own distinctive approach to the works of Frédéric Chopin, and I personally find the results very gratifying... The selections are mostly very well-known examples of distinctive Chopin genres – ballade, scherzo, nocturne, mazurka, and barcarolle – but they sound refreshingly different here... a very satisfying program that, even with a duration of 76:53, you will soon want to hear again.”

Phil Muse, Audio Society of Atlanta [June 2016]

Chopin’s piano music has it all—lyricism, virtuosity, beautiful tunes, and memorable rhythms. It is music that has earned the love of audiences all over the world. For me, its freshness and innovation stand out. Chopin essentially established most of the genres in which he wrote: Ballade, Scherzo, Barcarolle, Nocturne, Mazurka. Whether or not he was the first to compose them for piano—and, in several cases, he was—they are all imbued with his uncanny sense of structure and harmony. Chopin, like Schubert just before him, is one of the first to develop and exploit textures and colors that are particular to the piano. He shows an intuitive understanding of how to distribute the notes in an accompaniment pattern and of how the pedal can contribute to the creation of previously unimagined textures. In some of the later works, including the Ballade No.3 and Barcarolle, the pedal is even used to create an entirely separate voice.

When I put together the program for this disc, I conceived it as a recital: a collection of works that fit together naturally and formed a dramatic arc, while giving a sense of Chopin’s stylistic evolution throughout his all-too-brief career. From the F-sharp Nocturne, Op.15, No.2, composed when he was 20, to the Barcarolle, Op.60, also in F-sharp major, composed 15 years later, Chopin’s personal voice is evident. But every work presented here is different, with its own formal and sonic space; the later pieces show an ever-increasing structural sophistication and harmonic daring, along with greater emotional range.

In assembling these particular works, I considered Chopin’s extraordinary sense of the color of different keys, and in particular his distinction between flat keys and sharp keys. I have chosen an order that shows a progression from the flat side to the sharp side, and emphasizes tonal connections from piece to piece. Thus, the first part of the program emphasizes flat keys: C minor, G minor, E-flat major, A-flat major, and D-flat major. The three Mazurkas of Op.50 act to mediate between these two sides, with the first one, in G major, including moments of C minor and E-flat major. The second is in A-flat major, and the third moves unequivocally to the sharp side, with its main key of C-sharp minor and subsidiary keys of A major and B major. After the Mazurkas, the program moves through F-sharp major, D-flat major, F-sharp major, and E major.

The distinctions between flats and sharps become clearer when you hear the same pitches in different contexts: the C-sharp and G-sharp that begin the Barcarolle and the D-flat and A-flat that begin the Berceuse sound quite different, although they are in fact the same pitches on the piano. The first is invigorating, calling for the listener’s attention; the second lulls, inviting closed eyes and quiet contemplation. Chopin often opposes the sharp and flat sides in one piece: the climactic statement of the second theme of Ballade No.1 is in the bright key of A major, surrounded by the warmer-sounding key of E-flat major. There is also a passage in A major in the middle of the D-flat Nocturne—a striking contrast of color and mode to an earlier corresponding section in B-flat minor. Those works that stay entirely on the sharp side of the spectrum—including the third of the Op.50 Mazurkas, the Barcarolle, the F-sharp Nocturne, and the Scherzo No.4—have a different feel altogether.


Pianist David Korevaar, whose playing has been called a “musical epiphany” by Gramophone, performs a wide range of repertoire, from the time of Bach to the present. He balances his active career as a soloist and chamber musician with teaching at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he is the Peter and Helen Weil Professor of Piano. Since his New York debut at Town Hall in 1985, Korevaar has performed throughout the United States, including concerts in Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., Dallas, Houston, Cincinnati and San Diego, as well as on tours in Europe and Asia. He has been heard at major venues in New York, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Merkin Concert Hall, and frequently performs in his home state of Colorado. International performances have included appearances in Australia, Japan, Korea, Abu Dhabi and Europe. Korevaar gave his London debut at Wigmore Hall and his German recital debut at the Heidelberg Spring Festival. He also performed and taught in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan as a cultural envoy under the sponsorship of the United States Department of State. Also a highly active recording artist, Korevaar has made numerous critically acclaimed recordings that encompass solo and ensemble literature from Johann Sebastian Bach, Beethoven and Brahms to Ravel and Hindemith. An advocate for new music as well, he has recorded works by contemporary composers, including David Carlson and Lowell Liebermann.

[ www.davidkorevaar.com ] FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Nocturne in C minor, Op.48, No.1 (1841)
Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op.23 (1831)
Nocturne in E-flat major, Op.55, No.2 (1842-44)
Ballade No.3 in A-flat major, Op.47 (1841)
Nocturne in D-flat major, Op.27, No.2 (1835)
Mazurka in G major, Op.50, No.1 (1842)
Mazurka in A-flat major, Op.50, No.2 (1842)
Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Op.50, No.3 (1842)
Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op.60 (1845-46)
Berceuse in D-flat major, Op.57 (1843-44)
Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op.15, No.2 (1830-32)
Scherzo No.4 in E major, Op.54 (1842)



MSR Classics