by James Leonard 　　Astoundingly beautiful, Claudio Arrau's late Chopin recordings are, along with his late Debussy recordings, the peak of his art. Recorded mostly in the '70s and early '80s, Arrau's Chopin recordings catch him past his prime as a technician -- although much of Chopin's solo piano music is here, the extremely difficult polonaises, the sonatas, and especially the etudes are conspicuous in their absence -- but at the height of his powers as a poet. There are his radiant waltzes, his luminous preludes, his ravishing impromptus, his atmospheric ballades, and his evocative concertos with Eliahu Inbal directing the London Philharmonic. But above all, there are Arrau's sublime nocturnes, some of the most emotional, most soulful, most sensual, and most spiritual recordings of any piano music ever recorded. The warmth of his tone, the clarity of his phrasing, the depth of his sonorities, the utter inevitability of his tempos makes Arrau's nocturnes mandatory listening for anyone who loves piano music. And the inclusion of Arrau's 1953 U.S. Decca recordings of the impromptus, the ballades, the scherzos, and the barcarolle makes this set mandatory listening for even those folks who already have Arrau's later Chopin recordings. Decca's monaural sound is distant but clean enough; Philips' stereo sound is so honest and true that it's better than reality.