Frederic Chopin(1810-1849)
       Preludes, Opus 28

Adam Harasiewicz...Philips Duo 442266(1963)
Lincoln Mayorga....Sheffield Lab 505(1985)
Idil Biret.........Naxos 8.550366(1991/92)

At the end of Part 5, I was half-joking that I'd try to review a version
which isn't exceptional.  Although it's been a few years since I last
listened to Adam Harasiewicz's version on Philips, my memories of it were
not very good.  So, he comes afloat here in Part 6.

Are my memories worth anything?  Not really, for I didn't remember the
relatively poor soundstage.  It's rather distant and diffuse, and raising
the volume does not improve the situation.  Also, bass response is on the
weak side and upper register notes tend to have a 'glassy ping'.  Still,
wonderful performances would overcome the problem.  Regretfully,
Harasiewicz is well off the 'wonderful' mark.  I keep feeling that I hear
a pianist playing the music instead of experiencing it, and the diffuse
soundstage exacerbates the low intensity.

Harasiewicz certainly plays a few of the preludes in exceptional fashion
such as the 5th to which he applies an enticing/exciting frenetic quality
and the 14th which sounds like a volcano ready to blow its top.  But
overall, he does not dig very deeply into Chopin's extreme emotions.
Bleak preludes are not of the 'crushed hope' variety, and his power in the
strongest preludes is sometimes lacking such as in the 18th Prelude which
he starts as if he's a ninety pound weakling.  He also has a habit in the
powerful preludes of going into a slack position followed immediately by an
excessive display of angst.  In the 24th Prelude, Harasiewicz's bass-line
tension is not sufficient.

I did some looking for other reviews on the internet and did find one
on the "Flying Inkpot" site based in Singapore.  To my surprise, the
ink-stained reviewer praised Harasiewicz as if he was the reincarnation of
Chopin himself.  Thinking that I was perhaps being too harsh, I tried out
Harasiewicz on every audio system I own, using equalizers and anything else
which might turn my thoughts around.  However, my conclusions were always
the same - the performances are merely good ones not matching the best on
record.  I end up feeling that the "Inkpot" reviewer might have a
extra-musical connection to Harasiewicz he is not aware of.

Don's Conclusions:  Good performances with less than admirable acoustics
do not add up to a strong recommendation.  There are so many versions
surpassing Harasiewicz's that I advise caution.  On the plus side, this
2-cd set is inexpensive and includes Chopin's complete Nocturnes which I'll
be reviewing at a future date.

Don Satz
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