The plangent, slightly nasal tone of the Blüthner grand Artur Pizarro uses for this uneven Chopin recital really opens up and fills the room when you play this hybrid disc on a multi-channel SACD system. It also sounds fine in conventional two-channel stereo, but a bit constricted by comparison. Despite the sonic virtues, I can’t muster any real pleasure over the fussy and contrived rubatos Pizarro imposes throughout the four Waltzes (Op. 18, Op. 24 No. 1, Op. 69 No. 1, and the E-flat Op. Posthumous). While the Fantasie-Impromptu is admirably fleet and poetic, I find the pianist’s dreamy, rhythmically loose way with the Op. 62 No. 1 and the early C-sharp minor, D-flat, and E-flat Op. 9 No. 2 Nocturnes relatively enervated and lacking in profile.
For example, he makes no effort to characterize the C-sharp minor work’s Mazurka-like gestures, nor does he shape the B major’s magical trills with Rubinstein’s lyrical poignancy or Horowitz’s orgasmic nuance. Yes, it’s pretty playing, but there’s more to the music than Pizarro lets on. Similarly, a lack of a true, cohesive steady pulse proves the A-flat Polonaise’s undoing. As it happens, Pizarro’s fondness for rhythmic distension works to more imaginative ends in his four Mazurka interpretations, and particularly in the B-flat minor Scherzo’s trio. By contrast, the Scherzo’s outer sections dazzle with virtuosic élan and assurance. All told, this is a disc worth hearing for the Scherzo, the Fantasie-Impromptu, and the Mazurkas.
