According to Josef Hofmann, no single pianist could play each and every Chopin etude equally well. That certainly holds true with Luiza Borac. To be certain, her sensitive fingers are incapable of producing an ugly sound, and she pays more than lip service to hidden left-hand counterlines and inner voices. Yet some interpretations offer little more than solid accuracy: Op. 10 Nos. 1, 5, and 11; Op. 25’s double thirds etude (No. 6); and the “Winter Wind” (No. 11). In addition, Borac tends either to overpedal (Op. 10 No. 7 and the “Octave” Etude Op. 25 No. 10) or to skew her articulation short of dead center (the “Revolutionary” Etude’s relentless left hand runs, Op. 25 No. 7’s central climax).
Still, there are moments to savor, such as in Op. 10 No. 10 and Op. 25 No. 5, where Borac makes the subtle textural shifts in repeated material characterful and distinct. And Op. 10 No. 4 taps into bravura reserves familiar from Borac’s stunning solo Enescu recordings. The six Polish Songs transcribed by Liszt stand out more for Borac’s attractive poetic impulses than for her lack of scintillation. On the basis of Borac’s extraordinary Enescu performances, this release could/should have been better.
