Ingrid Fliter - Chopin: Nocturnes - BBC Radio 3 'Record Review'

Pianist Ingrid Fliter’s Chopin is a known quantity and a fine thing but how much you like her new recording of the complete Chopin Nocturnes is going to depend on your reaction, I think, to the recorded sound and Fliter’s rubato.

Chopin’s F Sharp Major Nocturne Op. 15 No. 2 and did you see what I mean about Ingrid’s rubato, the way she pulls the pulse about can be a little extreme, the changes of dynamics as well, but her instincts in Chopin are so musically refined, she persuades me, most of the time. Fliter certainly understands the essential simplicity underpinning some of the pieces, the emotional complexity of some of Chopin’s night thoughts. Rather than grouping them by Opus number she’s prepared a journey for us through the nocturnes that’s as rewarding as her playing. Quite a close chamber acoustic but the piano sound never overwhelms it.