Nothing in this discerningly planned Chopin recital is more enjoyable than the B flat minor Sonata. There is that essential suggestion of urgent desperation in the first movement, and of demonic drive in the Scherzo, yet both also bring beautifully liquid melody. The Trio of the Scherzo is particularly eloquently sung—and not just by the right hand either. For the Funeral March Tanyel finds just the right, non-dragging tempo at which a cortege could actually march, and I like her subtle emphasis of the ominous F-G flat motif (in the alto voice) in preparation for the first big swelling into the key of D flat major. The Trio she plays with a touching simplicity, its melody ethereally floated. And through the total avoidance of unrequested dynamic contrast and pedal-haze, she finds an eeriness all her own for the windswept finale.
Both nostalgic Nocturnes are played with a poetic delicacy and finesse. Even the totally unpredictable outbursts near their endings are kept within the confidential style she favours. But surely her tempo for the first in B flat minor (or at least for the main theme itself) is questionably slow for a Larghetto. I also wondered if the sad, central melody of the E major Scherzo is at times allowed to meander, though she finds a nimble-fingered grace and charm for the rest of the work. There is rather more fantasy than polonaise in the composer's great Op. 61, with some imaginative emphasis of inner strands, almost as if she were trying to create an impression of Chopin himself improvising it, late on a summer night at Nohant. But in the brilliant home-coming she reveals valuable reserves of strength. The Andante spianato brings further reminders of her ability to make the piano sing, while her characterful agility in the Grande polonaise is refreshingly free from all suggestion of the 'mere mechanicus'. There's an occasional hint of tubbiness, or boxiness, or should I say opaqueness, in the recorded sound in the middle and lower registers, but the top is clear enough. I certainly look forward to more Chopin from this sensitive artist.'