For many, Chopin's Nocturnes are the pinnacle of musical poetry. Chopin's waltzes have much less of that status, as if the genre of waltz were a tad too insignificant for that. So is it really such good music? Listening to this CD by François Chaplin, one cannot doubt it. Just take his gossamer interpretation of the Waltz op.70 no.2. Or the gale with which the Waltz in E (1830) begins. These are
… fully-fledged performance pieces, with an expression that moves effortlessly beyond the straitjacket of the waltz rhythm, the three-quarter time. The number of waltzes can be debated. Chopin published only eight during his lifetime. The two aforementioned masterpieces were not even among them. After Chopin's death, the number increased to 19 pieces in the 1970s. Chaplin limits himself to that group of 19, although some have since been added from private collections. (HJ)more
