Vladimir Ashkenazy - Chopin: Ballade No. 4, Polonaise-fantaisie, Barcarolle, Berceuse (2003) [SACD]

Vladimir Ashkenazy plays solo piano works by Chopin. The final of three posts of his SACD releases.
In this program which pianist-conductor Ashkenazy recorded in 1999 in Finland, the organizing theme is works composed by Chopin late in his life. He had visited all of these forms earlier on and now had a more mature view of what he wanted to explore in them. The last of the Ballades is a difficult improvised-sounding work that, along with the other three, comes the closest to genuine tone poems. There is clearly a flow of story-telling going on, but the listener only gets the emotion of the story, not the specific details. The Polonaise-fantasie is a nearly 13-minute work, also full of disparate improvised-sounding sections. The first of the three waltzes will immediately be recognized as The Minute Waltz. Ashkenazy plays very well and Decca’s multichannel presentation is natural and free of the 30-foot-wide piano syndrome.


Tracks:

1. Ballade for piano No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52, CT. 5
2. Berceuse for piano in D flat major, Op. 57, CT. 7
3. Polonaise-fantasy for piano No. 7 in A flat major, Op. 61, CT. 156
4. Nocturnes (2) for piano, Op. 62, CT. 124-125: 1. Nocturne in B major
5. Nocturnes (2) for piano, Op. 62, CT. 124-125: 2. Nocturne in E major
6. Waltzes (3) for piano, Op. 64, CT. 212-214: 1. Waltz in D flat major ‘Minute’
7. Waltzes (3) for piano, Op. 64, CT. 212-214: 2. Waltz in C sharp minor
8. Waltzes (3) for piano, Op. 64, CT. 212-214: 3. Waltz in A flat major
9. Mazurkas (3) for piano, Op. 59, CT. 86-88: 1. Mazurka in A minor
10. Mazurkas (3) for piano, Op. 59, CT. 86-88: 2. Mazurka in A flat major
11. Mazurkas (3) for piano, Op. 59, CT. 86-88: 3. Mazurka in F sharp minor
12. Barcarolle for piano in F sharp major, Op. 60, CT. 6