Customer Rating: 
Summary: Certainly not the best...
Comment: I don't think anyone could argue with Vladimir Ashkenazy's ability to perform Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev or Scriabin with great eloquence and passion. He seems so at home in that repertoire.
However, when placed in the entirely more intimate environment of Chopin he really doesn't seem to know what to do. His waltzes are bland and sound just like encore pieces with little or no real expression, his mazurkas are just too dull.
In Ashkenazy's hands the etudes do sound wonderful, however, and I like his recordings of the polonaises also, and the scherzi and ballades.
This recording of the nocturnes falls somewhere in the middle. However, the Nocturnes really are one of the cornerstones of piano music and there are many much better recordings to be had, in my opinion.
Ashkenazy is a great pianist but I'd look elsewhere for a recording that really does justice to this music, or the nocturnes at least.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent quality
Comment: The recording quality is excellent, Ashkenazy plays these nocturnes the best that I have heard them played anywhere.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Superb Ballades
Comment: The Nocturnes have received sufficient comment by the other reviewer. I would like to commend these recordings of the Ballades, especially the first, as the finest I have heard. Ashkenazy's first recordings (available on Decca Legends) are technically adept with very precise phrasing, but these recordings have the edge for their musicality. The more mature Ashkenazy heard here demonstrates complete command over the emotional content and his generous use of the pedal gives them a luxurient feel that many other recordings lack. His recording of the first Ballade sounds most natural, so that one is left with the feeling that THIS is how it is meant to sound. Other performers by comparison sound a little 'lost' in the freedom afforded by Chopin's shifting structure.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Chopin: Nocturnes and Ballades
Comment: A very good recording, capturing every sparkle of virtuosity in Ashkenazy's bright performance. The interpretation is very elegant (in a Chopanian fashion), particularly in the way that each and every single phrase is shaped. There are some who seem to think that the tone of Ashkenazy is somewhat "metallic", but this is definatly not the case, for most of the recording there is a Bösendorfer feel (even though i suspect the recording is done on a Stienway). There are moments of metallicness on some of the more martellato moments, which one could say is in the style of the period of pianos at the time.There is a minor "hiccup" on the 3 ballade, but it may be due to my old player.
I bought the CD originally as i was studing one of the nocturnes, but i have recently been listening to the recordings a great deal more then i should :)
On the whole, a rather invaluable item for those who are studing chopin (especially those who are doing their LRSM, since all the ballades are included on the second CD), or those who just want to listen to music when they are walking, in sunshine or rain!
