Chopin, Frederic: 24 Preludes, Barcarolle, Polonaise

   in Piano International (Jan, 2016)
Nelson Goerner is a pianist of formidable articulacy and focus, as this and his previous releases attest. Reeling off the F-sharp minor Polonaise’s streams of octaves with unfaltering assurance he is no less attuned to the central oasis of calm, keeping everything on the move without a trace of sentimentality. Elsewhere (notably in the Berceuse and Prelude No 17), the playing is too restless and thrusting to capture the full range of Chopin’s poetry. Yet you won’t easily hear a more dazzling performance of Prelude No 16, even if the last word in incandescence goes to Goerner’s fellow Argentinian, Martha Argerich. The Barcarolle (Goerner’s second recording) is, again, determinedly unsentimental. If …