First, last, and always,
Chopin's Nocturnes are seduction music, arguably the most effective seduction music ever composed. Whether
Chopin himself actually intended physical seduction doesn't really matter; what matters is that the Nocturnes invariably seduce the listeners, lulling them with swaying rhythms, enveloping them with sensual harmonies, and caressing them with beautiful melodies until musical seduction inevitably leads to physical seduction. Any performances of these works that fail to seduce the listener fail the music.
Brigitte Engerer's 1992-1993 recordings of the Nocturnes for the French Harmonia Mundi label are superbly performed, but they do not seduce.
Engerer's technique is virtuosic -- every note is where it should be. And her tone is deep -- every note gets its full weight. But the listener is more impressed than seduced. The lucidity of her runs, the clarity of her balances, the perfection of her trills, the poise of her rhythms: all these things are striking without being stirring, and the listener, longing for seduction, is left frustrated and disappointed. For a truly seductive set of Nocturnes, try
Claudio Arrau's ravishing recording for Philips; seduction has never been more profoundly beautiful. Harmonia Mundi's sound is warm, but a bit hazy.