Classical

Rebranding himself simply as Yundi, the Chinese pianist moves to EMI with the promise of a complete Chopin series. Produced by his former DG team (Christopher Alder/Klaus Hiemann), these Nocturne recordings were completed in a Zurich church during January. The sound is resonant but clean, wide in dynamic range – and preferable to that in last month’s Freire/Decca set. The two pianists are most divergent in the Lisztian Op.48:1 (Yundi taking the honours). Generalising, one would admire the consistent elegance of Yundi’s playing, his sensitivity to sound, yet Freire offers greater expressive variety. 

Sound Quality: 78%