André Watts: The Chopin Recital

This is a gorgeous disc, showing the pianistic maturity of André Watts, who was not always this colorful a Chopin player. Watts begins, rather daringly, with the Second Piano Sonata and doesn't even seem intimidated by the "Funeral March," which he plays poetically and without affectation. Throughout this piece, and in the shorter works that follow, Watts shows a sensitivity toward tonal shadings that is uncommon in contemporary pianists. This is one of the best Chopin CDs of the past decade, and the excellent recorded sound helps considerably in its success. --Leslie Gerber