Peter Jablonski is no stranger to Chopin’s Mazurkas, having recorded the Opp 6, 24, 50 and 68 groups for a 2008 Altara release that also included mazurkas by Szymanowski and Maciejewski. He’s now setting down the complete Chopin Mazurkas for Ondine. This first volume reveals an authoritative, idiomatic and individual stylist. He’s generally an epic, large-scale player who favours a wide range of dynamics and articulations. He can be yieldingly lyrical, yet he’s not afraid to get dirt underneath his fingernails: listen, for example, to how the left-hand drones of the E major Op 6 No 3 kick their earthy cross-rhythmic heels against Jablonski’s declamatory right hand. He makes more of the legato/détaché distinctions than most in the little E flat minor Op 6 No 3 while imbuing Op 7 No 1 in B flat with deliciously piquant embellishments.

Jablonski paints a fresh face on the F minor Op 7 No 3 with canny hesitations and sudden dynamic surges, and he takes the arguably marginal C major Op 7 No 5 seriously. He playfully inflects the cross-rhythmic phrases in the central section of the B flat Op 17 No 1. While he takes his time over the A minor Op 17 No 4’s decorative tracery, his grounded tempo is fluid and flexible. In this regard, this group’s second and third pieces sound comparatively sober, especially when measured alongside Garrick Ohlsson’s fusion of whimsy and tenderness (Hyperion, 2/09).

Conversely, the relatively uninteresting G minor Op 24 No 1 comes alive via Jablonski’s unpredictable rhythmic distensions and accent placement. He gracefully holds back in the C major Op 24 No 2’s outer sections, which give no hint of the forceful tenutos on the Trio’s loud A flat major chords. One might argue that Jablonski overprojects the ‘hiccuping’ accompaniment in Op 24 No 4’s second theme in his otherwise convincing pursuit of inner lines and unusual voicings.

Each of Op 30 No 2’s echoed phrases has its own character and colour, words that succinctly describe Jablonski’s edgy way with No 3. The tension and release of No 4’s trills wouldn’t be out of place in Scriabin. Op 33 No 2 is not especially fast yet it still conveys boisterous lilt, and with very little sustain pedal for the most part. Jablonski’s effectively understated Op 33 No 3 sets the stage for a strikingly contrasted and personalised B minor No 4. An angular, questioning take on the short and swift B major Mazurka stands out in the well-played Op 41 group. Needless to say, I look forward to this excellently engineered and annotated release’s follow-up volume.