Since the death of Jorge Bolet and the departure of Alicia de Larrocha for new pastures, Decca seem to have decided that youth is beautiful and have recently taken on four young pianists, among whom is the 20-year-old Eldar Nebolsin, winner of the 1992 Santander Competition. Blessed with a light and elegant facility he makes child's play of the Allegro de concert (Chopin's projected Third Concerto), resolving outlandish difficulties (a few surely influenced by Alkan, Chopin's one-time Paris neighbour) with nonchalant ease. Yet even after a few bars I longed for greater rhythmic definition and at least a token acknowledgement of the composer's Allegro maestoso direction. The Third Sonata (the first movement, Allegro maestoso again) is spun off with an enviable dexterity but scarcely a hint of Chopin's deeper poetry, his gravity and darker undercurrents. The Largo's central reverie is notably lacking in this respect and Nebolsin's perhaps surprisingly sleepy-eyed way with the exultant and equestrian finale reminds us that while distinguished understatement is one thing, superficiality is another.
Matters hardly improve in the Liszt which is embarrassingly tame and flavourless (particularly where the flames of hell-fire in the Dante Sonata are concerned) and although the Twelfth Hungarian Rhapsody is fleet it is hardly imposing. The recital (recorded with exceptional bloom and clarity) is rounded off with two Chopin Waltzes, the D flat, Op. 70 No. 3 played rather too languidly for its contained ecstasy and the A flat, Op. 42, enlivened with much vivacious left-hand by-play and imaginative pedalling. Nebolsin is undoubtedly a fluent pianist but, overall, it is strange to hear such apparent immaturity on disc.'