Ingrid Fliter in Triple Time

Chopin, Waltzes, I. Fliter (released on November 3, 2009) EMI 6 98351 2 4 | 67'51" Online scores: Chopin's First Editions Online

When Argentinian pianist Ingrid Fliter returns to Washington next week, to appear with the National Symphony Orchestra (March 4 to 6), she will be playing Mozart, the 23rd piano concerto (A major, K. 488). Fliter, however, first came to prominence with a strong performance at the 2000 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where she placed second to the artist formerly known as Yundi Li. In spite of that boost, Fliter's career had become moribund until, in 2006, she won the Gilmore Prize and soon after had a full concert calendar and a recording contract with EMI. We reviewed her first release, a pleasing if not definitive selection of Chopin pieces, and are a little curious about what will become of Fliter now that none other than Yundi Li has gone over to EMI to record -- what else this year? -- the complete works of Chopin. Unfortunately, Fliter's latest disc, of the complete Chopin waltzes, misses the mark as a set: while many of the individual pieces receive performances that are quite charming, others do not.

The best tracks, like the mercurial version of the E minor waltz and the stately gravitas of the E♭ major waltz (both with no opus number), show the promise, technical and interpretative, of Fliter's near-victory in Warsaw. Fliter has excellent technique, shown best perhaps in the clear, easy repeated notes and distinct voicings in the op. 18 waltz, but there are a few minor shortcomings, most notably with passages in parallel thirds (or other intervals), which get a little choppy. This is not to mention a brief but unmistakable missed note in op. 34/3 (at 2:12), the sort of minor error that happens all the time in live performance, but it is frankly surprising that it made it past the many people who listened to the track to end up in the released version. Fliter's rubato can be a little affected and overblown, as in the many distortions in op. 34/2, the little melancholy waltz in A minor, as well as in op. 64/1. It is not a bad recording by any means, but neither will it make it among my favorite ones, by Alexandre Tharaud and Dinu Lipatti. This is not to say, either, that anyone interested in fine piano playing should miss the chance to hear Ingrid Fliter's Mozart concerto next week, especially judging by her Beethoven concerto with the NSO in 2008.