Murray Perahia - Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 (1988)

Chopin's Second Piano Sonata is one of the most powerful and terrifying pieces of music written in the 19th century. Its funeral march is already famous (you know the tune, even if you don't know that you know it), but what makes the piece so extraordinary is its finale--a 90-second ride through hell that has been described as "the sound of the wind sweeping over a graveyard." Next to this expressionist masterpiece, the Third Sonata sounds rather more conventional, but in Murray Perahia's capable hands, it's no less compelling. A true keyboard poet, Perahia has turned in performances of both sonatas that have long stood as among the finest available. -- David Hurwitz