Alexandre Tharaud - Chopin: Valses (2006)

Alexandre Tharaud plays all 19 waltzes, including the 5 posthumous ones, arranged in a sequence that lends a logical ebb and flow along the course of an hour devoted to works composed throughout Chopin's lifetime. More important, he plays with a refreshing freedom that includes a command of subtle rubato so essential to this music. Tharaud's attention to dynamics and his gorgeous tone colors make you hang on every note, especially in pieces like the Grande Valse, Op. 42, which becomes a drama in waltz time. Even the charm of the opus posthumous E major Waltz never cloys because of Tharaud's subtle dynamic variations. An exceptional touch here is the final track, placed as an encore. It's Mompou's gorgeous homage to Chopin, sounding, in Tharaud's words, "like an intimate echo" of Chopin's world and music. This is one of the great Chopin CDs---an extraordinary disc no lover of piano music or of Chopin (aren't they the same?) should be without. --Dan Davis