Pianist, philosopher and musicologist Alberto Nones presents in this new Chopin recording a monograph entirely dedicated to the Fantasies. In the interesting liner notes, written by the interpreter himself, Nones clarifies how that title is used by Chopin to indicate structures that would only, with difficulty, fall within traditional forms but also convey a more recondite meaning connected to the dream and manifestations of the most creative faculty of the human mind. This dreamlike dimension is captured in the central part of Fantaisie-Impromptu op. 66, but above all, in the whirlwinds of Fantaisie op. 49, whose energy opens the doors of the imaginary. The interpreter’s phrasing is always measured and elegant, his rubato choices aimed at highlighting refined details, secondary voices and accompaniments generally neglected. In particular, a new perspective emerges from Nones’s reading of Polonaise-Fantaisie op. 61, where the retrospective gaze becomes a self-exploration of the unconscious, in search of a peace finally achieved.

– Note: this review has been translated from the Italian original