Nick van Bloss
Nick van Bloss
Chopin Sonata in B minor and 24 Preludes
(Nimbus Alliance)
The problem with pianist Nick van Bloss is that it is impossible to write about his music-making without dragging his life into the frame. He is incredibly famous because of his battle against Tourette's. Yet it is a well documented fact, about which he speaks openly, that when he sits down at the keyboard something happens: his nervous tics and his inability to stay still evaporate, and the music takes over. He is a brilliant pianist, with - as exemplified in his new recording of Chopin's Third Piano Sonata and the opus 28 Preludes - a comprehensive command of musical structures, a deep power of lyrical expression and a lucid ability to articulate the fastest music without exaggeration or flashiness. His gauging of pace and tempo is just about flawless, whether in the big canvas of the Sonata or the tiniest aphorism of a Prelude. It's damn near miraculous. Mind over matter? Whew.
Michael Tumelty
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