Chopin: Nocturnes Nos. 1-21 (complete)

EMI Classics has signed the “superlative young Chinese pianist” Yundi, formerly known as Yundi Li, winner of the 14th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Appropriately, Yundi’s first EMI release will be the complete Chopin Nocturnes, released to commemorate the composer’s 200th birthday in 2010. Yundi and EMI Classics together plan to record the complete works for solo piano by Chopin.

Stephen Johns, Vice President, A&R, EMI Classics, said, "We are extremely pleased to be welcoming Yundi to the EMI Classics label. Yundi's musicianship and artistry has already captivated audiences around the world, and his desire continually to seek new challenges mirrors our own ambitions to bring great music in new and innovative ways to a wide public. We are particularly excited by Yundi's championing of the music of Chopin and in this, his anniversary year."

Since the competition that catapulted Yundi onto the international stage, his recitals and appearances with orchestras in Europe, Asia and the United States have been hailed by critics extolling his precise, crystalline technique, keyboard fluidity and boundless enthusiasm. His personality and artistry appeal to audiences of all ages and he is an icon in his native China, where he has inspired millions of young people, who refer to him as the “Prince of the Piano.” He is equally the toast of national leaders and has been invited to perform for the Chinese Ambassador in Washington, D.C. and for the President of China, Hu Jin Tao at Government House in a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China.

Following a recital at the Salle Pleyel in 2009, the critic Gérard Mannoni said, “With Yundi Li, the sound is … deep, radiant, warm, spacious, highlighted by a perfect use of silence, the element of language so often overlooked by musicians. An exceptional pianistic art….” And reviewing an earlier Liszt/Chopin recording, The Times wrote, “You can tell [he] has something beyond the dazzle of any new star. The secret? Partly … it’s his sense of flow. …The other key component is the mastery won over his own finger power. …Yundi Li already knows how to be subtle even when loud. And when he’s restrained he glows with banked fires. … Yundi Li is never reckless; there’s always an artist in firm control, sculpting both tone and phrasing.”

Yundi hails from Chongqing in the People’s Republic of China, where he first learned to play the accordion and won first prize in a competition at the age of five. He switched to the piano at seven and subsequently studied with Dan Zhao Yi, one of China’s most renowned piano teachers.

Yundi has performed with most of the major orchestras in North America, Europe, Russia, Israel and the Far East with conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Riccardo Chailly and Yuri Temirkanov. He has received particular distinction for his interpretations of concertos by Chopin, Liszt, Prokofiev, Ravel and Tchaikovsky. His recitals throughout North America, including New York’s Carnegie Hall; England, including London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall; France, including Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet and Salle Pleyel; the Salzburg Festival; Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg and across Asia, have touched audiences and critics alike.

Yundi’s association with EMI Classics and a move to new management are expressions of his ongoing commitment to performing at the top of his profession, using all means at his disposal to reach new audiences.

In these performances of all of Chopin’s Nocturnes, Amir Katz has attempted to follow all of Chopin’s guidelines precisely. He not only pays attention to tempi and dynamics, but also the freedoms of the composition which were natural for Chopin and interpreters of his time. This results in a meticulously developed yet lively interpretation.

'In Chopin’s 21 Nocturnes we encounter some of the most sublimely beautiful music ever written for piano. The Romantic idiom of these “night songs,” with their atmosphere of yearning nostalgia, was perfectly matched with Chopin’s talents and inclinations. The genre of the nocturne was first developed by the Irish composer John Field. Chopin knew Field’s nocturnes well and built upon his foundation. Another source of inspiration was Italian bel canto opera, exemplified by the works of Chopin’s friend Vincenzo Bellini. Whatever his sources of inspiration, however, Chopin’s nocturnes represent the highest realization of the form, despite the fine subsequent efforts of composers including Schumann, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Fauré, Scriabin, and Szymanowski.' Vladimir Feltsman

“...Quite Simply An Amazing Pianist!” The New York Times

François Chaplin was noticed by the critics and the audience with a complete recording of Debussy’s piano pieces released by Arion between 2000 & 2005 « With what is needed of distance, distinction and of calm ecstasy for the essentially aristocratic art of Claude de France... a complete recording which will mark the recent debussy discography. » Gilles Macassar Télérama 2005 After a Chopin recording Ballades, Barcarolle et Berceuse released in 2007, here is the complete set of Nocturnes, inovative and lyrical pieces which made Chopin famous. To record theses passionate, tender, delicate pieces where inner life develops dreams and infinite impulses, François Chaplin chose a Grand piano de concert Yamaha which enabled him to shape his own sounds. « I wanted to express myself freely in these confessions which are the nocturnes » A new order for Chopin’s Nocturne : « Between the two poles constituted by the op.48 set, with its dramatic Nocturne no.1 in C minor, and the two Nocturnes op.62, where the accommodation of the bel canto spirit to the keyboard reaches a fabulous peak, I have taken account of the moods and keys of the pieces in devising an arrangement which has no other aim than to emphasise the diversity and modernity of the nocturnes. With their lyricism and drama, their intimate confessions and capricious outbursts, they contain Chopin’s entire soul. » François Chaplin