Collecting the Polonaise Héroïque

It's probably a blasphemy for me to say this, but Chopin is not my favourite composer. On the other hand, his Polonaise in A-flat Major, Opus 53 (the Polonaise héroïque) is gorgeous in a wonderfully exuberant sort of way. I know it's overplayed (like so many of Chopin's pieces), but I am collecting Youtube videos of performances, anyway.

The thing about the Polonaise is that aside from precise technique, it requires a great deal of flair. Unlike, say, the Fantasie-Impromptu (which I refuse to learn on moral grounds), every pianist plays the Polonaise differently. All of the versions are impressive in their own ways, but I am not infatuated with any of them so far. Nevertheless.

Classics: Horowitz, Argerich, Cziffra, Gilels. I don't like the Rubenstein on Youtube, probably because of the bad video quality.

Other ones: Blechacz, Chugay, Kuschnerova, Lim.

The Blechacz is absolutely impeccable; go and watch! On the other hand, there isn't much to his performance beyond "impeccable" - I personally like the Argerich best, even if it's a little...bangy.

There's alot more versions out there, of course, some of which are rather terrible. Once, I've listened to an amazingly deliberate version somewhere online, but I can't find it again.

As for my own lack of progress on the piece, well, I've slogged through the thing twice, and my hands hurt, dammit. At least it's not like La Campanella, which is notorious for inducing carpal tunnel syndrome on pianists not sufficiently advanced and/or careful with practicing. Oh well, it's not like I don't have the time to practice (until early May, anyway).