Frédéric Chopin: Complete Sonatas – Joseph Moog

   in Choir & Organ (May, 2017)
After the aplomb of his earlier recordings of Moszkowski, Rubinstein and Scharwenka (to name but three), I had high hopes for Joseph Moog’s Chopin. However, Chopin, unlike lesser composers, is a litmus test of musical quality and Moog’s impatience with two of his greatest masterpieces (Sonata Nos 2 and 3) is all too evident.

In the First Sonata, where Chopin doffs his hat to academia and where many disgruntled ideas are padded out with strenuous double-note figuration, Moog is masterly. He also responds to Chopin’s return to some measure of grace and inwardness in the unusual 5/4 of the Larghetto. But elsewhere in Sonata No 2 you long for a more …