Flow is the watchword of Nelson Freire’s new Chopin recital. It dictates swift tempos in the Sonata‚ taken not for the sake of displaying mere prestidigitation but in order to sweep the listener along. Freire always has the destination of Chopin’s phrases and paragraphs in mind. This helps guard against cheap self­indulgence while still leaving room for fantasy and floated lyrical lines. Some might be concerned about the absence of the first­movement repeat (not me‚ in this instance); others might feel‚ as I do‚ that Freire matches the Trio section in the second movement a bit too literally to the pulse of the fleet­fingered Scherzo. But his refusal to labour the slow movement is all to the good‚ and the finale has a strong sense of overall accumulation. The Studies are no less fine – quite exceptional‚ in fact‚ in their care for articulation and polyphonic voicing. Again we’re not talking extraneous touches of arbitrary whimsicality; Freire’s initiatives arise either directly from the notation or from his admirable sensitivity to harmonic tensions. Occasionally the effect borders on the didactic‚ as in his surprisingly emphatic way with the normally rather fluttery F major Study. But Freire’s refusal to barnstorm through the three big concluding showpieces is as welcome as his intelligent traversal of the three Nouvelles Etudes. This‚ then‚ is not quite a disc to displace classic exponents such as Gilels and Pollini; but it is certainly one to weigh seriously alongside them. Sound quality is good though not outstanding. The acoustic is on the dry side‚ and the top octave of the instrument is rather thin‚ especially in soft­pedal passages. And for a full­price issue‚ 20 minutes of unused space does seem rather mean.