Chopin:Comp.Mazurkas

On this two-disc set, Frederic Chiu, a splendid pianist with a singularly beautiful tone and an extraordinary palette of colors and nuances, plays all 58 Chopin Mazurkas, including the early, posthumously published ones, often dismissed as "juvenilia," yet revealing the seeds of the future. Written throughout Chopin's life, the Mazurkas prove that though he spent his last 18 years in France, his heart and spirit remained rooted in his native Poland; no wonder so many of them are hauntingly pensive and nostalgic. Inspired by the rhythmic, harmonic, and modal patterns of the dances of Mazovia, they range from ingenuous simplicity to utmost sophistication, from the exuberance of headlong whirling dances to melancholy introspection, and represent a unique fusion of folk music and high artistry. This results in an incredible diversity of form, texture, and expression, as well as in a wide variety of possible interpretations. In his scholarly program notes, Chiu deplores the contention that only Polish pianists can identify with the Mazurkas' rhythms and idiomatic flexibility; his excellent performance indicates that the key element is not nationality but the confidence to let the music and one's own response to it speak naturally for themselves. Favoring slow tempos, he sometimes exaggerates rubatos and contrasts, but brings out the changing character and moods, and is at his best in the most complex pieces. --Edith Eisler