This recording came as a great disappointment to me. I had wanted ballades, not concertos. This recording seems to miss the point of these pieces completely. The sudden changes in dynamics and the constant changes in tempo almost completely obliterates the line of the music. The ballades have their own drama, but of a more modest and poetic scale. I don't think the extra Lisztian dynamics present on this recording are a blessing.

One of the finest recordings of the Ballades I've heard were by Gary Graffman, but alas those are not available on CD as yet.

I agree with other reviewers that technically Perahia is superb here; but I find myself relatively unmoved by listening to this selection of Chopin's greatest hits. I like Parahia; his Chopin Complete Etudes is wonderful, and as a person he is generous and unassuming. I set the standard for the ballades with Kissin and indeed rate Perahia's performance of ballade #4 as preferred, but I found my favourite, ballade #1, lacking in strength and emotion at key moments; something also evident in some of the later pieces.

The Ballades are played with technical flawlessness, energy, and brilliance. However, in some passages his playing seems to lack sufficient emotion. Perhaps some would consider this restraint and dispassionateness a virtue. But I tend to favor a more Rachmaninoffian emphasis on melody lines. Chopin, after all, was a Romantic composer. On the whole, though, highly recommended.