Hyperion Records

Where Chopin excels is in his creation of what Schumann described as ‘waltzes for souls much more than waltzes for bodies’. There is no better example than one of his very last works, the Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2. If it is still a waltz for the body it is for a soulful and solitary one that moves with a pathetic little skip between the sighing parallel sixths of its main theme and then twists away in a nostalgic pirouette. The melodiously expressive middle section—approached by a run of quavers that has the function of a recurring refrain—is harmonized in D flat major but is scarcely less poignant than the C sharp minor episodes on either side of it.

from notes by Gerald Larner © 2009