Search - Idil Biret :: Chopin: Polonaises, Vol. 2

Poor presentation ruins decent accounts of less-interesting

G.D. | Norway | 02/02/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The first volume in the Naxos series of Chopin polonaises from Turkish pianist Idil Biret gave us Chopin's mature contributions to the genre, and the follow-up thus focuses on the much less well-known works from Chopin's youth (some published posthumously; that's the reason for their high opus numbers). And frankly, these are far, far from the level of his more famous polonaises. There are pleasant moments here, and the style leaves no doubt about the identity of the composer, but for the most part they are, to be honest, forgettable. Idil Biret gives us serviceable readings here as she did on the first volume; empty brilliance is rejected in favor of restraint - too much so at times - but there is a certain lack of subtlety to the playing as well (though that cannot entirely be blamed on the performer, as there is little to be subtle about here). Unfortunately, the one work that stands out in terms of quality, the Andante spianato & Grande Polonaise also receives the one really unsatisfactory reading, ending up sounding sprawling and unstructured. Now, this would still have been a worthwhile disc, were it not for the record company. One thing is that one suspects, with some justification, that the playing would have benefited strongly from some more time in the studio, but the production and notes also give the distinct whiff of being hurriedly thrown together at minimal cost - they just reproduce the booklet from vol. 1, and the sound quality is far from satisfactory; clangy, unbalanced and ugly. The end result, then, is a disc for the specialist or the ardent Biret-fan, and no more than that."