Chopin: Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47

Richter’s genius was identifiable over a wide variety of styles and this Regis disc attempts to convey his artistic diversity. The programme features Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and Prokofiev taken form a series of recitals in Carnegie Hall and Wembley Town Hall in the early 1960s. Super-budget price.

As early as 1948 Richter recorded a Polonaise Op.25 No.1, and in 1950 the Ballade No.2 Op.38, few Studies… An avowed enemy of 'completism' the present programme is a fabulous example of his choices, excluding the famous Funeral Sonata, Walzes or First Piano Concerto…, leaving these to Gilels: ‘far better than me' in his opinion!

This is Volume 2 in our series of solo piano works by Chopin, played by the French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie.

Recording exclusively for Chandos, Lortie is recognised as one of the finest interpreters of Chopin today. He first recorded Chopin’s Études for Chandos more than twenty years ago; the disc was named as one of the ‘50 great performances by superlative pianists’ by BBC Music. Volume 1 of his current Chopin series also has received excellent reviews: the magazine Pianist wrote: ‘He is a pianist of our time when it comes to speed, energy and an unfussy approach to Chopin. His way of playing is like a sharply cut steel sculpture, super elegant and with not one single smudge.’ And in the words of International Piano: ‘These are full-blooded and eloquent performances, an auspicious start to what looks likely to become one of the finest of Chopin surveys.’

The ballade was associated with French poetry up until the mid-nineteenth century, when Chopin was among the first to transform the genre into a purely musical form for solo piano. His four ballades, recorded here, are among his most extraordinary and powerful works, full of dramatic contrasts, with moments of lyrical tenderness followed by passages of rambunctious energy.

The Irish composer John Field invented the piano nocturne as a lyrical and dreamy short piece, a charming and languorous creation that was later transformed and extended by Chopin into something with a much wider emotional range, and a general sense of wistfulness. This ‘Chopin’ style of nocturne soon came to replace the Fieldian style as the preferred model of the genre. The simplicity and directness of expression found in the nocturnes have made them the most popular of all Chopin’s works.

Composed towards the end of his life, the Barcarolle (originally a Venetian gondolier’s song) for solo piano is a melancholy, but sweepingly romantic work that conjures up strong images of Venetian boats, water, and oars. Also on this disc is the Berceuse (inspired by the traditional mood of the lullaby), based around a single four-bar theme which Chopin ornaments in increasingly elaborate ways as the piece develops.

The legendary Paul Badura-Skoda pays tribute to the Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti, who sixty years ago gave his last recital in the Kursaal of Besançon. Here, Badura-Skoda performs the programme of this historic concert.

The American pianist Julius Katchen (1926–1969) was a child prodigy who at age 11 performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy. In 1946 Katchen toured Europe, settled in Paris in late 1947 and became a frequent performer on the European concert platform.

His technique was ‘gold plated’ and despite his early death at aged 43 from cancer, he had a large discography which still sells today. In December 1968 he famously participated in the two-day spectacular known as the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus, playing the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata K545 and Falla’s ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ from El amor brujo.

Katchen made a major study of Brahms during his career and this 1967 live broadcast of Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, with the distinguished German conductor Rudolf Kempe, reflects his deep understanding of this composer.

This recording gives the collector the rare opportunity of hearing Katchen ‘live’ in comparison to his studio account made much earlier in 1959.

The fill-ups consist of familiar Katchen composers, Chopin and Liszt but also two new additions to his discography, Schumann's Prophet Bird Op.82, No.7 and Albéniz’s Triana.

Completing this CD is a rare interview with John Amis where Katchen discusses his early life including his thoughts on Mozart and Brahms interpretation.

These recordings have never been released before and have been remastered using ICA’s Ambient Mastering process which recreates the atmosphere of the concert hall.

This 2-channel hybrid SACD features the much admired Ukrainean pianist Sergei Edelmann in a collection of pieces for solo piano by Frederick Chopin. The disc includes the Four Ballades, as well as the Barcarolle in F sharp minor, opus 60, the Fantasie in F minor, opus 49, and the Polonaise No. 7 in A flat major known as the “Polonaise Fantasie”.

Born in Lvov, Ukraine in 1960, Sergei Edelmann comes from a long and outstanding musical heritage. He was taught to play by his father Alexander Edelmann, a renowned pianist and teacher who had links to Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter. In his native country Sergei’s first orchestral performance was at the age of 10 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1. He subsequently performed extensively in recitals and with orchestras throughout the old USSR. His BMG Classics/RCA Red Seal CDs with the Bamberg Symphony under the baton of Claus Peter Flor and the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Paavo Berglund include both Mendelssohn Concertos and the Strauss Burlesque, and his series of solo recordings of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Prokofiev have garnered enthusiastic critical acclaim.

Frederick Chopin’s Four Ballades represent some of the most challenging music in the solo piano repertoire. They were composed between 1835 and 1842, and were the first to use the word “Ballade” (a term which was previously associated with 19th century French poetry) in a musical context. Despite a shared lyrical quality, each piece is however highly distinctive in style and mood.

The young French pianist Lise de la Salle's new project is one of the event releases of the Chopin bi-centenary year, a recording which couples the famous Four Ballades for solo piano with a live performance of the Second Piano Concerto, performed with one of the best orchestras of the time, the Staatskapelle Dresden, under its former principal conductor Fabio Luisi.

In 2007 the Staatskapelle Dresden was awarded ‘Prize of the European Culture Foundation of the Word’s Musical Heritage’ - the only orchestra in the world ever to have been so honoured. In December 2008, it was selected, as so often in the past, as one of the world's top ten orchestras - this time by Gramophone. The British magazine has also been fulsome in its praise of the pianist: “Lise de la Salle is a talent in a million.”

Lise de la Salle, born in 1988, began studying the piano aged four, gave her first concert at nine, and made her debut with orchestra in Beethoven’s Second Concerto at 13. Since 2001 she has pursued an international career that has taken her to such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Hollywood Bowl, Metropolitan Art Space in Tokyo, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Wigmore Hall in London.

At the age of 14, her first recording (Ravel, Rachmaninov) marked the start of her collaboration with Naïve. In 2004, her second album (Bach, Liszt) was named CD of the Month by Gramophone. This was followed in 2007 by a third CD, the First Concertos of Shostakovich, Liszt, and Prokofiev with Lawrence Foster and the Gulbenkian Orchestra, which won the same distinction in Gramophone. In 2008 came a double album of Mozart and Prokofiev featuring a DVD (Lise de la Salle, Majeure!) directed by Jean-Philippe Perrot, which was named Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine Choice.

Anika Vavić has performed in the some of the world’s most established concert halls including Carnegie Hall, the Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw. She has worked with conductors such as Valery Gergiev and Paavo Järvi. Her other great passion is literature and she has written a novel.