DUMMY

Time was when a set of Chopin Nocturnes didn’t really make waves… everybody does’em, and recently the fad has centered more around the Preludes. Both can be mistaken for student pieces, but like everything else by our beloved Freddie, they’re all student pieces and every pianist is gonna play them to death so get used to it.





Still, this DG set from Pollini stands out more for the pianist than for the material; it’s the kind of recording that could be defining for him, after eons of ravishing perfection, the great Italian takes his biggest risk and turns inward.





Another disc, from Japan’s Yundi Li, set him tackling the great warhorses with Schumann’s Carnaval, the gimmick is the Musikhuas in Wien. The clue to greatness lies in the opening Scarlattis. A couple weeks back