Fou Ts'ong - Chopin: Piano Works (1993)

In this year of his sixtieth birthday, how good to have this reminder of Fou Ts'ong's lifelong devotion to Chopin. Only in the Polonaise-fantaisie does he do himself less than justice: such idiosyncratically fitful, shape-damaging rubato is bound to sound mannered after re-hearings on disc. Just once or twice I would have preferred a more poised, Lipatti-like continuity in the Barcarolle too, though here there are many seductive things by way of compensation.
The F minor Fantasie, launched with an imposing, rhythmically taut gravity, unfolds with a wholly natural-sounding fluidity, and the Berceuse in its turn brings exquisitely delicate fioritura. I was particularly glad to renew acquaintance with the five less frequently recorded miniatures that end this bargain-price, miscellaneous reissue—even if some doubt remains as to whether the A minor Fugue is authentic Chopin. The others in the group certainly are, and Fou Ts'ong plays them with enough tonal beauty, affection and charm to make it hard to understand why Chopin himself withheld them from publication. I most enjoyed the 51 seconds of the nocturne-like Cantabile in B flat, the solemn tread of the C minor Marche funebre and, last but not least, the ear-tickling grace of the Souvenir de Paganini, sparked off by the bewitching virtuosity of that artist when Chopin was still a mere student of 19. Tonal reproduction is pleasing enough except for a faint touch of metal at moments of heightened intensity.