Godowsky: 22 Chopin Studies

Ivan Ilic´ (piano); Paraty 311.205, £13.99

This disc poses an intriguing question: why, when Chopin’s studies are difficult enough already, did the Polish composer and pianist Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) transcribe 22 of them for the left hand alone?

History has bequeathed a number of pieces for the left hand, but they were generally occasioned by particular circumstances. Skryabin composed two pieces for the left hand when his right had been put out of action by over-practising. Then there are the concertos by Ravel, Prokofiev and others who responded to commissions from the wealthy pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm during the First World War. In more recent times the famous duo of Cyril Smith and Phyllis Sellick played music for three hands after Smith’s right arm was paralysed by a stroke in the Fifties. But Godowsky still had use of both hands, and he deployed them fabulously in playing that was lauded by his peers.

Rearranging Chopin’s studies, apart from the intellectual and musical challenge, seems to have been prompted by Godowsky’s belief that the left hand was capable of being developed to do the work of two. Well, up to a point. Chopin’s bristling C major study Op 10 No 1, transposed to C sharp, becomes lyrically reflective; the Revolutionary Op 10 No 12, transposed up a semitone from C minor, takes on a darker hue through having much of the action shifted to the baritone range.

In fact, all these studies, conceived as they are for the configuration of the left hand, sound markedly different from their Chopin originals. They are of terrifying difficulty, and it is to the credit of the American pianist Ivan Ilic´ that he manages to bring expressive finesse to them as well as negotiating the technical hurdles. His is certainly a labour of love.