Chopin: Nocturnes Complete (BIOVINYL)

A luxury LP transfer of a superb new Chopin recording, on revolutionary new biovinyl: high-fidelity analogue sound with an environmental conscience.

Piano Classics has a fast-growing library of LP releases which are pressed at the leading LP manufacturer in Europe, Optimal Media in Hamburg. Whereas vinyl records have relied upon the petroleum industry until now for their raw materials, the new Biovinyl records are made from bio-based PVC (polyvinyl chloride) which derives from recycled cooking oil or industrial waste gases. CO2 emissions are thus also significantly reduced in the manufacture of Biovinyl records.

The records themselves are identical in quality and weight to standard audiophile, petroleum-based vinyl records. Piano Classics has won a longstanding reputation for the warmth and clarity of its recordings which transfers well to the analogue LP format even when the original source is digital, as it is here.

Vincenzo Maltempo’s new recording of the Nocturnes will attract the attention of pianophiles old and new, whether listening on CD or LP. Close study of the Chopin performing tradition has resulted in a freedom rather than constriction to his playing, and the recording captures all the lower-bass resonance of his piano, which is essential for bestowing the kind of stillness and gently vibrating atmosphere that Chopin writes into his Nocturnes.

The gatefold sleeve of this 2LP issue includes detailed booklet notes by the Chopin scholar Ates Orga, plus an illuminating introduction from Maltempo himself. With the special intimacy that analogue LPs afford, this set allows the listener to get closer than ever to the heart of Chopin’s Nocturnes.


The LP version of a new recording of Chopin's Complete Nocturnes by Vincenzo Maltempo.
Any new recording of the complete Nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin rouses the interest: in the field of countless existing recordings, does the pianist have something new to say? Inspired by but not imitating the great masters of the Golden Piano Age, Vincenzo Maltempo presents the Nocturnes as dramatic tone poems with a strong narrative, based on the art of rhetoric and Belcanto. As a means to the expression of his ideas, he found an 1888 Steinway grand with an exceptionally wide dynamic range and singing tone. The result is an enervating and moving journey through these eternal masterpieces!
Italian pianist Vincenzo Maltempo, one of the most interesting pianists of the young generation, made his name in his staggering recordings of unjustly forgotten romantic repertoire: Transcendental Studies by Lyapunov (Piano Classics, PCL0124) received 5 stars in several classical magazines (a.o. the French Diapason). His recording of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies received rave reviews, a Gramophone Editor’s Choice: “extraordinary breadth and nobility...little short of perfection...”, “9/9, close to ideal” (Jed Distler Classicstoday.com). His recordings of Alkan have “confirmed his place in the restricted circle of Alkan’s best performers, 5 stars” (Diapason), “Exhilarating, thrillingly demonic, 5 Stars” (Andrew Clement in The Guardian).