Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

The Japanese concert pianist Dai Asai expresses his love to Chopin in this recording of his most beloved and legendary Nocturnes, the Barcarolle, Ballade and Fantasie Impromptu – this is performend on a Steinway Concert Grand D Hamburg and recorded with the most state of the art digital microphone technology without any loss in the signal chain – directly from the microphone membrane to the Harddisc Recorder, mastered in True Peak EBU R128 standard for most natural dynamic and most excellent sound quality. Running Time 74:40 – PCM Stereo

REVOLUTIONARY SOUND QUALITY: This is the one of the first HD Audio productions in line produced without compromise using the Direct A/D (analog to digital) technique which delivers the culmination of sound clarity realized by the use of the state-of-the-art digital microphone system that transfers the direct signal with a dynamic range of up to 130dB by eliminating all sound shaping and dynamic loss creating stages in the signal path such as cables, non optimal preamps, AD converters or limiters. The result is the highest achievable and unmatched signal to noise ratio. True-Peak EBU R128 Mastering guarantees uncompressed fully natural dynamics from total silence to ultimate peak level without any noise or distortion.

Dianne Baar began playing the piano at the age of three.

She was awarded Austrian citizenship in honour of her outstanding musical performances.

She performs in the the Lichental Trio which won the Gradus ad Parnassum competition in 2011.

Alexandra Dariescu makes her debut recording for Champs Hill Records in a recital of Schumann, Chopin and Liszt. A hugely popular communicator, Alexandra is a former YCAT

artist, a Laureate of the Verbier Academy and has been awarded the Romanian Ambassador’s prize All three composers on this album contributed to the foundations and development of Romantic piano composition, and this set of works forms one of Alexandra’s most popular piano recital programmes.

Schumann published his Opus 1, Variations on the name Abegg at just 20 years old, playfully translating the last name of the dedicatee - Mademoiselle Pauline Comtesse d’Abegg - into musical pitches [A-Bb-E-G-G] from which his theme begins. Of the three composers here, Liszt became the most idolized pianist-composer of the nineteenth century. His Ballade No. 2 in B minor recalls works by Chopin and Schubert, while his transcription from Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde, demonstrates his influence by the composers he admired.

Chopin’s Grande Polonaise was originally written for piano and orchestra and was premiered coupled with the opening Andante Spianato: but two years later Chopin re-arranged the work for piano solo, which we hear here. Also featured on the disc is Chopin’s Ballade No. 4, Op. 52, one of his most profound compositions. Chopin wrote this melancholy masterpiece at a time when he was in a state of precarious health.

This season, Alexandra made her Carnegie Hall debut in New York and appears in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing both Rachmaninov and Greig concertos.

Born in Romania, Alexandra subsequently studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, completing further studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where was made a Piano Fellow.