The setting is a gift: a glass-walled atrium, trees outside, and a hanging sculpture of mirrored tiles through which the camera watches the Fazioli, sometimes peering into the open instrument and the score on the desk. It is beautiful, imaginative videography.
Chopin wrote this Lento con gran espressione in 1830 for his sister Ludwika, and it waited until 1875 to be published. Its charming melodies borrow from his own F minor Concerto and from the song “Życzenie”, and Abedini lets the opening line sing plainly, without sugar. The turn to A major has a lovely lift, the climax that follows is full but never forced, and the soft C sharp major chord at the end is quietly moving.
One gentle suggestion: the long rapid runs in the final pages could breathe a little more freely, floating like improvised ornaments over a steady bass rather than sounding like a task to be accomplished. The video’s modest resolution is a pity given how carefully it is framed, though the sound itself is clean.
A warm, sincere performance of a piece that too often turns sentimental; here it simply sings.