F. Chopin Etudes

Nikolai Lugansky was the favorite pupil of the late Tatiana Nikolayeva, the great Russian Bach player at the Moscow Conservatory. At the age of 16, he took second prize in the 1988 Leipzig Bach Competition; two years later, second in the Rachmaninov Competition; and, in 1994, first prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition. The man knows how to play. The difficult Étude in Thirds (Opus 25, No. 6) takes off at something like the speed of light; the hazardous right-hand entries are unerring in their accuracy; and Lugansky makes it all sound easy. The B Minor "Octave" Étude (Opus 25, No. 10) receives one of the best performances on record. Despite the Herculean octaves in the opening and closing sections, Lugansky still manages to suggest power in reserve, and his disciplined, dignified approach never permits the luscious middle section to lapse into sentimentality. But, while some of Lugansky's Études touch greatness, too many of them amount to little more than a blueprint of the music--clear and exact, but without the flair, color, and flexibility (not to mention the poetry) that characterize the great versions by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Juana Zayas, and Maurizio Pollini. --Stephen Wigler