Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor Op. 35 — Nelson Freire, piano — Decca
Multichannel SACD, 475-6617, 57:03 ***1/2:
Brazilian pianist and former child prodigy Nelson Freire has now made
two Chopin discs in the 21st century and after this one, it’s safe to
imagine more will be on their way. Not that this hour-long, brilliantly
recorded recital will be to every opinionated listener’s taste. I found
some of his interpretations actually distasteful, such as the way he
slams out the return of the main theme near the end of the Funeral
March in the Sonata. I also dislike his take on the Sonata’s famously
strange fourth movement. Chopin doesn’t toss all structural sense to
the winds as Freire does. Still, the disc is definitely high on the
drama meter — capricious and untamed, contradicting any views of Chopin
as someone who wrote only gentle lyrical nocturnes and tinkling parlor
pieces.
The faster Etudes are every bit as stormy and exciting as one could
hope for, marked by thunderous rushes up and down the keyboard that
don’t obscure the thematic profile. In some of the slower pieces Freire
pushes the limits of tempo and neglects legato phrasing, which saps
some of the tenderness. His choices in these matters are more fitting
in the opening movements. I especially enjoy the way he contrasts the
first movement’s underlying motif as a snarling, intrusive thing always
trying to claw its way over the melodic surface. His playing of the
Barcarolle is similarly explosive. What begins as a gently rocking boat
song transforms quickly into a chromatic whirlwind whose force is hard
to resist.
— Zachary Lewis