The serious, craggy demeanor Stefan Vladar brought to his solo Brahms recordings for Sony spills over into his Chopin. He reads between the Ballades’ narrative lines and often zeros in on the Preludes’ cameo-like details like a botanist seizing a microscope for the first time. Imagine Claudio Arrau’s rhetorical breadth with his golden tone and cosmic demeanor replaced by Maurizio Pollini’s steel-trap rigor and you’ve got the gist of what happens throughout this recital. It takes each of the four Ballades time to find its rhythmic center and forward-moving pulse (never an issue with Perahia or Ashkenazy), although the fuller, tumultuous piano writing stands out for both coiled drive and more attention than usual to articulation (under Vladar’s fastidious hands you can take dictation from the F major and F minor Ballade codas).
Similarly, the F-sharp minor, D major, and E-flat major Preludes’ whirling patterns are energized, shapely, and crystal clear, although simpler, lyrical preludes like the B minor, A major, and F-sharp major at times seem overloaded. If you prefer your Op. 28 along less subjective lines–along with added classical poise and tonal variety– then the long-reigning Pollini and Moravec reference versions remain the safest modern recommendations. But there’s no denying that Vladar’s probing virtuosity holds your attention.
