...I think you started off at a very good pace...look, while I do agree very much that it needs to be beautiful (and I do find it an exquisite piece of music), I do think you take too much time as it progressed, imbuing the inevitable melodic flow with a certain sentimentality that I'm not sure is what the music needs.
I'm not suggesting that the piece needs to be executed squarely because it's an etude. Rather, for me, amidst the tone of regret and lamentation, there is a sense of what Fleisher likes to identify as a certain "inevitability". The way you shape the melody is beautiful, but I think you need to consider again how this "chasse neige" should flow. The tempo plan in the first half of the piece is quite admirable, but for me it just seems unnecessary, if too wild and counter-intuitive, because of what I think the piece should really be.
Take it for what it's worth. In any case, perhaps what I appreciate and enjoy the most from musicians is what I like to call the "heart and commitment" to the music. It is something I usually find lacking in so many pianists (and musicians, young and older alike), but I do think that is not the case with you here. So there
