Chopin: Ballades Nos. 2 & 4, Scherzo No. 4, Mazurkas & Waltzes

Chopin wrote 59 Mazurkas, and the Soviet-trained pianist Anna Zassimova includes 12 of them on this all-Chopin album. The opening Mazurka No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor shows her sensitivity to these concise, often elusive pieces, the lilting dance rhythm subtly tweaked to hint at emotional ambiguities beneath the surface. These deeper emotions are more explicit in Zassimova’s searching traversal of the Nocturne in G Minor, Op. 15 No. 3, and the unrushed, rapt account of the Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, where she brings commanding cogency to a piece which can seem episodic. And while Zassimova is undoubtedly as poet, a combustible Scherzo No. 4 in E Major laced with flashing fingerwork shows that she has all the credentials of a bona fide virtuoso performer. No Chopin lover should miss this enthralling recital.