Nicholas Kenyon 

A Chopin Diary: The Complete Nocturnes CD – review

Claire Huangci (piano)(Berlin Classics) (2 CDs)
  
  

Claire Huangci
‘A lovely, warm sound’: Claire Huangci. Photograph: Claire Huangci

One of my very earliest musical memories is the wonderful sound of Chopin’s E flat nocturne on an old 78. The music gets under your skin, and that is equally true for the Chinese-American pianist Claire Huangci, who has recorded all 21 nocturnes. Are they too unvaried a sequence? No, because of the deftness and variety that Chopin creates within the form. Huangci has a lovely, warm sound and in some pieces, like the F sharp major, integrates all the incredible filigree to beautiful effect. But she overdoes some effects, like the pauses in the D flat major; there is not enough variety in the textures to make this a top recommendation.

 

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