Although there is some lovely playing here, there is more in
Chopin's music than can be found in most of
Rafal Blechacz's performances. It isn't that the young Polish pianist lacks the technique.
Blechacz can rip through the rippling filigree of the D minor Allegro appassionato that closes Opus 28 Préludes as quickly as the best pianists of the past. And
Blechacz surely has soul. His sustained Lento in the A minor Prélude from Opus 28 is beautifully phrased and pedaled. But listeners who know these pieces may find themselves wanting more. There's a lack of tempo rubato in the rising and falling lines of the C sharp minor Prélude, Op. 45 that makes the work seem oddly inflexible, and a want of depth in the sonorities of his E major Nocturne, Op. 62, that shows the performer's youth. Yet
Blechacz clearly has it in him to be a great
Chopin player. The controlled pacing of his E minor Prélude, Op. 28, and the affecting simplicity of his A major Prélude from the same set are remarkably poised and poetic. Captured in clean but evocative digital sound by Deutsche Grammophon, this disc is worth hearing more for what it promises than for what it delivers.