Here’s one of the stronger items from Nikita Magaloff’s mid-1970s complete Chopin cycle for Philips. The veteran pianist imparts enough élan, insight, and color to satisfy the pickiest Chopin Waltz palette. There’s a tossed-off quality to the more skittish passages that I find appealing, although bean counters will notice more than a few ghosted left hand chords (“ooms”, for instance, followed by sketchy “pahs”) and, in the bristling E-flat Waltz, a few non-sounding repeated notes. I prefer the seasoned eloquence of Rubinstein’s stereo version or Lipatti’s robust perfection, although these eminences stick to the “traditional” 14 waltzes, as opposed to Magaloff’s inclusion of the five youthful “posthumous” selections. Lovely recorded sound adds value to the bargain. More of Magaloff’s Chopin from Eloquence please, including both of his complete Mazurka traversals!
