2 Nocturnes, Op. 62
- No. 1 in B Major
- No. 2 in E Major
Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61
Barcarolle, Op. 60
Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58
3 Mazurkas, Op. 59
- No. 1 in A Minor
- No. 2 in A-Flat Major
- No. 3 in F-Sharp Minor

It's a well-known fact that some composers have been and still are overly represented within the recording idiom. As far as Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) is concerned, the list of available recordings is endless. Most people are probably set for life with the discs they already have in their collections, but once in a while new interpretations come along which deserve attention and a spot within your CD and LP shelves.

Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva's highly insightful, sensitive, yet non-affected approach to the music is what sets her apart. In the Nocturnes for example, she eschews the usual dreamy, moonlit daintiness, and opts instead for harmonic clarity and expressive fluidity (no pregnant pauses or over-indulgence). At first glance this may seem cold and aloof, but it allows the music to speak for itself. There's no need to paraphrase the music of Chopin, the emotion and intent are already present.

As well, at the other end of the spectrum in the final Presto movement of the Sonata in B minor for example, her controlled passion and ferocity allows for textural effulgence shedding light on each and every note even in the thorniest and fastest passages. But I think what makes her playing highly distinctive, is how, even in a piece like the Mazurka in A minor, she always brings out the Chopin behind every note, and imparts the music's essence masterfully without exaggeration or caricature.

The booklet notes point out: Fourteen years after her victory at the XVI International Chopin Piano Competition, Steinway Artist Yulianna Avdeeva documents her journey with the music of Frédéric Chopin. Voyage focuses on his late works, all composed while surrounded by nature, and Avdeeva has recorded them at the rustic Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, against the serene backdrop of the Beartooth Mountains.

Of interest as well is the fact that the Steinway used for this recording was Vladimir Horowitz's personal piano and it is the piano Eugene Istomin played, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, for Columbia's 1956 recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.