Marc-Andre Hamelin - Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos 2 & 3

Recent discs from Marc-Andre Hamelin have concentrated on music which is obscure, under-recorded or virtually unplayable. However in this latest recording he turns his attention to two mainstays of the Romantic repertoire: Chopin�s Piano Sonatas Nos 2 and 3. The results are simply staggering: playing of matchless brilliance and consummate artistry, stunningly recorded. As a recent critic of Hamelin�s live performance of the B minor sonata remarked, �Hamelin starts where most other pianists leave off � such was his control that frequently it seemed as though an extra dimension were being added, the music�s teeming internal life clarified by his ability to voice the inner parts�.The disc is completed by some of Chopin�s greatest single-movement works; the contrasting two Nocturnes of Op 27, the extraordinarily colouristic Berceuse Op 57 and the monumental Barcarolle in F sharp major. We think this is one of the most authoritative and important Chopin discs to have appeared in recent years�an unmissable release.