I wrote about this nocturne a few days ago through Sokolov. Here’s the other way to play it.
Pollini recorded the complete Nocturnes for Deutsche Grammophon in 2005. The A-flat major cantabile is unhurried, the right-hand line long and clean, nothing underlined. Then the stormy middle section arrives with real steel. And Pollini never loses the architecture, so the return feels earned rather than merely repeated.
Sokolov shows you the pianist; Pollini shows you the piece. Both are right.
It’s on Apple Music: