Chopin: Mazurkas Nos. 1-51

“The Chopin Mazurkas explore so many emotions, veering from one to another so rapidly ; their fully satisfactory performance is recognised as a feat most difficult of achievement by any pianist. Magaloff goes a great deal of the way towards bringing it off, and exhibits in the course of the fifty-one pieces very many happy turns of phrase, and also of pianistic effect […] Op. 6 No. 3, for example, being delightful in its vivacity and rhythmic point, while Op. 33 No. 1 has just the right sort of fragile charm […] Magaloff certainly implies the true measure of Op. 50 No. 3, brings a proper strength to Opp. 50 No. 1 and 56 No. 2, while in Opp. 56 No. 3 and 59 No. 1 he compels admiration” Gramophone Magazine

“Recording in the studio, rather than at a live concert, quite naturally leads to a safe and uniform approach, which doesn't really serve the inspired inventiveness of the music. In some ways these recordings suffer from this. If you compare Rubinstein's readings here with those he recorded on 78rpm discs in 1938-9, you immediately notice that an element of fantasy and caprice has given way to a more sober view of the music. The Mazurkas are so intricate in their variety of moods that the successful pianist has to be able to treat each one as an entity, contrasting the emotional content within the context of that particular piece. Rubinstein, with his serious approach, lends the music more weight than is usual and he wholly avoids trivialising it with over-snappy rhythms. With him many of the lesser-known Mazurkas come to life, such as the E flat minor, Op 6 No 4, with its insistent little motif that pervades the whole piece. His phrasing is free and flexible and he has utter appreciation of the delicacy of Chopin's ideas.
He doesn't, however, take an improvisatory approach. Rubinstein judges to perfection which details to bring out so as to give each piece a special character. He convinces one that he has made this music his own. When you hear Rubinstein tackle the C sharp minor Mazurka, Op 53 No 3, you at once know that he fully comprehends the depth of this, perhaps the greatest of them all. He ranges from the pathos of the opening to a persuasive tonal grandeur in the more assertive parts, and yet is able to relate the two. The recording has a number of blemishes: the piano is too closely recorded, the loud passages are hollow-toned, especially in the bass, and little sparkle to the sound.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Penguin Guide 1994 3 star

“Vladimir Ashkenazy made his integral set of the Mazurkas over a decade. He has always played outstandingly. He does so again here, giving complete satisfaction. The set includes all those published posthumously and the revised version of Op 68 No 4; so his is the most comprehensive survey in the current catalogue. Ashkenazy memorably catches their volatile character, and their essential sadness. Consider, for example, the delicacy and untrammelled spontaneity with which he approaches these works. He shows the most exquisite sensibility, each item strongly, though never insistently characterised. His accounts of the Mazurkas, Op 6 and Op 7, for instance, offer a genuine alternative to Rubinstein. Nine pieces in all, they were Chopin's first published sets and their piquancy, the richness of their ideas, is here made very apparent. One is given a sense of something completely new having entered music. Although there are fine things in all the groups, Op 24 is the first Mazurka set of uniformly high quality and No 4 is Chopin's first great work in the genre.
On hearing them together like this one appreciates the cumulative effect which the composer intended, and Ashkenazy makes a hypersensitive response to their quickly changing moods. The recorded sound has the warmth, fullness and immediacy typical of this series, with a nice bloom to the piano tone.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“it's hard to believe this is the playing of an octagenarian pianist...he shows an impish and limitless imagination. His playing will probably divide listeners - whimsical, quirky, full of Romantic-era effects such as uncoordinated hands and whirlwind rubatos which, nevertheless, don't descend into mannerism. The total effect is one of mesmerising improvisation.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 *****

“No single genre reveals the totality of Chopin's expressive and intellectual range with such vividness as the Mazurkas. Few pianists explore them with such personality and imagination as Luisada.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2011 *****

“Jean-Marc Luisada's stylish set of Mazurkas…” Rob Cowan, Gramophone Magazine, December 1999