Anna Vinnitskaya - Chopin: 4 Ballades & 4 Impromptus - Gramophone

Best of the four is the F minor with, again, a strong narrative conviction. There is a spontaneity and electricity about this performance that is compelling (the stretto before the eight pianissimo sostenuto bars that lead to the coda is cleverly handled).

The four Impromptus are finely done, albeit without the individual touches that I admired so much recently from Ruth Slenczynska in the late 1950s (3/21). In brief, with a notably good booklet and recorded sound (Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg), Vinnitskaya’s Chopin is well worth a listen but, my goodness, the competition is fierce.