Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor; Nocturnes, Op. 15/2, Op. 48/1, Op. 62/2, ; Barcarolle in F sharp, Op. 60; Scherzo in B flat minor, Op. 31

COMPOSERS: Chopin
LABELS: Virgin
WORKS: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor; Nocturnes, Op. 15/2, Op. 48/1, Op. 62/2, ; Barcarolle in F sharp, Op. 60; Scherzo in B flat minor, Op. 31
PERFORMER: Mikhail Pletnev (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: VC 5 45076 2 DDD (1990)

Mikhail Pletnev is not a shy performer, and here he treats Chopin as a vehicle for his extravagant musical personality – idiosyncratic, sometimes perverse, phrasing served up with lashings of rubato. While his accounts are never less than stylish (especially when Chopin speeds up), the sheer lyricism of the pieces is sometimes lost in a haze of self-consciousness. William Humphreys-Jones