Reflets dans Chopin: Wojciech Kocyan Plays Liszt, Mompou, Schumann, Saya

Even though Franz Liszt had greater influence on the technical aspects of keyboard practice, Frederic Chopin had a much deeper influence on expression in piano playing, and his poetic music has stirred many composers to emulate his introspective and delicate manner. Among these were Liszt himself, who made elaborately decorated versions of Chopin's six Polish Songs; Robert Schumann, who composed the short but fairly dense Variations on a Nocturne of Chopin; Federico Mompou, who devised a much longer set of quasi-impressionistic variations on the famous Prelude in A major, Op. 28/7; and contemporary composer Mark Saya, who has translated Chopin's music into the angular language of modernism in his 7 Preludes Revisited. With keen intellect and emotional insight, pianist Wojciech Kocyan locates the source of these composers' inspiration and brings out a Chopin-esque essence in all the pieces, even though it is eccentrically modified by Schumann, heavily masked by Liszt, veiled by Mompou, and distorted almost beyond recognition by Saya. Kocyan's playing has dimensions and depth, and is surprisingly most engaging in Saya's gnomic work, which receives its world-premiere recording here. Dux's sound quality is finely balanced and clear enough to capture all of Kocyan's delightful nuances.