CHOPIN: PIANO MUSIC. Ruth Laredo. Elektra/Nonsuch Digital...

CHOPIN: PIANO MUSIC. Ruth Laredo. Elektra/Nonsuch Digital 9 71450-1. Unlike her well-known interpretations of Rachmaninoff’s piano music--technically accurate but emotionally somewhat dry--Laredo’s playing on this recording of 14 Chopin mazurkas, waltzes and other pieces finds her more on the expressive side of her artistry. The result is pleasant, but fails to find new insights. Only two selections display Laredo’s technical adeptness (the Etude, Opus 25, No. 4, and the B-minor Scherzo). The rest, a hodgepodge of five better-known waltzes, five lesser-known mazurkas and a nocturne (Opus 15, No. 1), are played with an almost transcendental concentration, fitting together like parts of a slowly paced fantasy, as there is little or no pause between bands.