EMI’s back-catalog harbors enough riches and rarities from which to assemble a consistently first-rate boxed set of Chopin’s complete works. But you’d never know that from this uneven collection. Why Agustin Anievas’ blustery waltzes, or Eugenia Zareska’s wobble-ridden set of Polish Songs, in drab mono no less? If drab mono’s acceptable, why not Shura Cherkassky’s Etudes (or even Jeanne-Marie Darré’s) over Andrei Gavrilov’s flying, feckless fingers in glassy digital? Garrick Ohlsson’s generally workaday 1970s Nocturnes, Preludes, Polonaises, F minor Fantasy, Barcarolle, and two concertos take a back seat to his musically riper Arabesque remakes (now available on Hyperion). While Cecile Ousset’s Ballades, Scherzi, and Second and Third sonatas remain solid and safe recommendations (see my review by typing Q7754 in Search Reviews), Ronald Smith’s earnestly prepared yet musically gawky Mazurkas (type Q8049 in Search Reviews) still turn me off.
The La ci darem Variations and the Andante spianato e grande polonaise (both in their piano/orchestra incarnations) showcase Alexis Weissenberg’s formidable pianism at its most brusque and machine-like. By contrast, I was pleasantly surprised to encounter Natalie Clein and Charles Owen’s sensitively balanced yet tonally generous readings of the Cello Sonata and the Op. 3 Introduction and Polonaise brilliante. Danielle Laval’s Rondos and Leif Ove Andsnes’ First sonata also take the cake for glittering panache. Best of all, the remarkable teenage prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor serves up crumbs from Chopin’s solo piano table (rarities and miscellany) with uncommon sensitivity, shape, and commitment. Incidentally, the performers listed on the back cover include André Previn, Ann Murray, and Yvonne Loriod, who are nowhere to be found on these discs! Needless to say, DG’s carefully curated, extensively annotated, and artistically superior complete Chopin edition remains first choice.
