Rafał Blechacz (2005 winner of the Chopin Competition) records his countryman’s music with insight and style. Particularly satisfying are his choice of tempos, neither too fast nor too slow, nearly always persuasive. Very well recorded (September & October 2021, Teldex Studio Berlin) and fortunate to have a piano of weight yet clarity, with a treble that refuses to ping, as well as being very responsive to the gentlest of touches and to crescendos and subsequent fortissimos (try the ‘Funeral March’ of the B-flat minor Sonata); this is discriminating playing that leaves showmanship and false rhetoric in the dressing room. That Sonata is played out symphonically, subjects related, although the gap between the third and final movements is a tad too long and the latter is rather tame, with little suggestion of autumnal leaves being blown through a desolate graveyard. The B-minor Sonata is magnificent as well as impetuous, the first movement (with exposition repeat, also observed in the B-flat minor’s corresponding movement, if not returning to the Grave introduction as some pianists do), a good balance of going places and rumination, unforced and fluid, and then a lightly articulated Scherzo that is captivating, followed by a Largo that digs into its eloquence without being obvious, and a Finale that is poised, Blechacz’s hands as equal partners, and a proper summation to the whole. Also included are the F-sharp minor Nocturne, Opus 48/2, subtly shaded with the complex decoration integrated, and the Barcarolle, an especially thoughtful reading. DG 486 3438.
Rafał Blechacz records Chopin for Deutsche Grammophon. Sonatas, Nocturne, Barcarolle.
