Here is some truly inspirational playing. Nelson Freire seems to have cut to the core of Chopin’s Nocturnes; they are, from his point of view, reflective and introspective but devoid of the sentimentality that is sometimes evident in other interpretations.  

Freire is of course no stranger to Chopin and here lies his great facility – his experience and understanding of the texture, the colour and the bel canto-like melody line of Chopin’s Nocturnes. In Freire’s hands, the very first Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 1, flows seamlessly. Not even the marked difference of the central section seems to interrupt Freire’s control over the nocturne as a whole. This set of nocturnes stand up there with the best –  a must-have for any Chopin devotee.