Chopin: Nocturne No. 16 in E flat major, Op. 55 No. 2

“you only have to listen to the Scherzo No 2 to realise she remains a supreme Chopin stylist, combining temperament with an unsentimental touch.” Financial Times, 19th May 2012 ****

“to an even greater extent than before, her performances blaze and challenge with a potent and highly individual sense of drama...For Fialkowska, Chopin can take on something of the dark-hued austerity of late Liszt...there is never any doubting her strength of purpose. All this is a striking advance on earlier recordings, with their earlier recordings, with their more conventional notion of interpretation, and to crown it all Fialkowska has been superbly recorded.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012

“This is a rich and illuminating find. From the outset you sense Janina Fialkowska's innate, developmental grasp of drama - of the connection between phrases and their dynamic character. Then there's the sheer life in her playing, reflected in the perfectly nourished and shrewdly apportioned sound...her pacing and exceptional graps of musical narrative is a masterclass in the art of pianistic rhetoric.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 *****

“What is most impressive about this performance is the exquisite pianissimo both achieve, while maintaining a perfect tonal balance. The old complaint that the dense piano part dominates simply does not apply here: Stott's touch is so gossamer-light, the engineers had no need to throw the cello forward unnaturally.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ****

“It would be hard to imagine a more powerful account of the Sonata than this one” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“In glorious tone quality, drama, visionary intensity and sheer poetry, few pianists have ever surpassed Cortot. This CD is a treat, if you don't mind wrong notes, and includes two totally different interpretations of the Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007 *****

“This fifth and final release of Cortot's 78rpm Chopin recordings is surely the jewel in the crown. Here, the 1929 rather than the more familiar 1933 set of the Ballades blazes with a passion, brilliance and poetic audacity that set the pulses racing and the mind reeling. Here is a great artist who seized the opportunity to achieve ever greater heights of eloquence and rhetorical verve. Superbly restored by Mark Obert-Thorn, every performance is charged with a heady and consuming poetry that confirms Daniel Barenboim's claim that 'Cortot discovered the opium in Chopin'. Take the First Ballade's opening, where Cortot is every inch the bardic poet, free, rhapsodic and inimitable; or hear him in the Presto con fuoco storms of the Second Ballade, where he plays as if pursued by the furies of hell.
Again, even when inaccuracies fly in all directions in the heat of the chase, no other pianist has approached the Third Ballade's central C sharp minor turbulence with such daring or recreative force. Cortot was never one to hold back in the interests of decorum and in the Fourth Ballade he stretches the parameters of Chopin's poetry to the very edge, his playing close to being consumed in its own ecstasy.
His selection of Nocturnes (sadly his projected Chopin survey was never completed) pulse with the same alluring quality, suggesting the reverse of Rubinstein's more patrician elegance. True, for today's more antiseptic and 'tasteful' practitioners such artistic conviction and originality will seem extravagant or even camp. Yet there is surely no living pianist who could or would attempt to emulate such heart-stopping poetry.
Maria Callas herself would have been among the first to pay tribute to Cortot's cantabile, an unequalled 'singing' at the piano.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The great French pianist famous for…. His magical touch and lovely singing tone and a flexibility of phrasing and movement as natural as breathing.” Sunday Times

“his Grande Valse Brilliante is brilliant indeed; so are the cascading double sixths in the eighth étude in D-flat major...Lang Lang’s grin and enthusiasm are genuine: he simply loves playing his piano, communicating the joy of music. Bang Bang and glitter aside, that’s not something anyone should knock” The Times, 26th October 2012 ***

“This album reflects his lifelong love for Chopin, and shows how fresh and individual his take can be...he delivers an exhilarating blend of poetry and power. The accompanying DVD is surprisingly amateurish, but reminds us of the god-given talent he was born with.” The Independent, 28th October 2012

“[Op. 25] No. 1 establishes the pianist's beautifully modulated sonority along with the kind of affettuoso gestures his critics love to hate...It's ironic how Lang Lang's most interesting playing occurs when he attempts to 'interpret' the least. Sony's resplendent, seductively resonant engineering deserves the highest praise.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012

“For the most part the playing is warm and communicative, beautifully shaped, luminously projected and boldly coloured - probably too bold and luminous for those who prefer more aristocratic refinement and reserve in their Chopin but without the exaggerated, showy style so many have found off-putting.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2013 ****

“Overall, there is more maturity and emotional investment than I expected from the performer. Lang Lang’s rubato speaks of a serious artistic imagination, and it produces very distinctive playing. For many a listener the effect may wear thin after a few listens, but for others this will be intoxicating.” MusicWeb International, April 2013