The "What are you listening now?" thread

[Froge]

I'm not too familiar with Rubinstein's version of it (quite new to the piece itself, actually), but I think Claudio Arrau is by far the best Chopin interpreter, as blasphemous as that may sound (Rubinstein is of course the obvious choice). His interpretations of the Nocturnes are far beyond anyone else's IMO.


Especially Nocturnes 15 and 16, op. 55:









Just sublime.



EDIT: Actually, speaking of, do you have any tips for playing parallel octaves apart from just practice? I'm learning this piece at the moment and am having a bit of trouble with the Piu mosso part (around 03:15).

I'm not too familiar with Arrau, actually. From what I've heard in that video he does sound like a decent Chopin interpreter, as his playing is quite calm and carries a fair amount of rubato (which a lot of modern pianists lack). When it comes to Chopin, I usually just listen to Rubinstein, Argerich, and Yundi Li.

I can understand being parallel octaves are difficult to play, as I've become scared of them after my experience with Liszt's nightmare, La Campanella. I'm no piano expert as right now I'm just aiming for a level 10 RCM certificate (although I do frequently play harder pieces). All I can really say is that you have to go slowly and make each note sound clear. After a while you will simply get the intuition for knowing where the next pair of octaves will be.

By the way, what's your opinion on Chopin's larger pieces (sonatas and concertos)?