MUSIC AND DANCE

CHOPIN: Four Scherzos; other works. Ivan Moravec, piano. Dorian Recordings DOR-90140. Amid all the world-class virtuosity and detailed nuance of Moravec’s playing on this recording, one yearns for the relaxed melodies, the elegant flourishes, the strokes of grandeur so essential to much of Chopin’s music. The tautness of the pianist’s phrasing creates urgency, to be sure, yet it seems too constant, almost high-strung. His intimate and intricate lyricism tends to bog down in minutiae. As such, the longer works--the Scherzos, for example--suffer from a certain aimlessness. In the shorter pieces, like the quiet and simple Mazurka, Opus 68, No. 4, or the bouncy Mazurka, Opus 7, No. 5, Moravec seems more in his milieu, a miniaturist crafting cameos.