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Title: disappointing, salonish performances
Review: I've enjoyed many of Stephen Hough's performances in the past, particularly his delightful "Albums," his Hummel and his Mendelssohn. But in this case, he reduces some of Chopin's greatest music to salon proportions. Virtually every work here is ruined by incessant toying with phrasing and tempo and the disclosing of nonexistent inner voices. At one point in the first scherzo he suddenly begins playing at half tempo! Nor is his technique impressive. The octaves in the third scherzo, for example, are clumsy. To boot, the sound on this cd is cold and remote, far below Hyperion's usual standards. I'm sure Hough will produce much better discs than this careless production in the future. But avoid this disc and stick with Moravec and Perahia in the Ballades and Rubinstein and Richer in the scerzi.
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