Ingrid Fliter's debut disc is an all-
Chopin program featuring some of the most familiar staples of the romantic piano repertoire. Beyond a serviceable technique and a gentle tone, however, the Argentinean pianist brings little to the music.
Fliter tears through the closing Presto from the B minor Sonata at a breakneck tempo, but there is little drive in her rhythms and less tension in her form. The repeated notes that open the Grande Valse brillante in E flat major are cleanly articulated, but so over stressed in the remainder of the piece that they rapidly become tiresome. Her A minor Mazurka is tonally nuanced and subtly pedaled, but without the swaying tempo rubato, the piece needs to sound like a mazurka. Nor, it must be added, is
Fliter's technique altogether up to the toughest pages. While she can execute the "Minute" Waltz with panache, she can't get through the coda to the F minor Ballade without fudging the two hand chords and overpedaling to compensate. Produced by John Fraser, EMI's digital sound is a bit hazy and a tad dim, but very flattering to the pianist.