Chopin: Prelude Op. posth. in A flat major (No. 26)

'I like to play the cycle of Preludes without interruption, with the same tension, a certain underlying fear even in the most serene preludes.' Two years after his CD devoted to the Waltzes, Alexandre Tharaud returns to Chopin, the composer he has played most often and who has never failed to move him deeply. In addition to the Preludes in A flat and Op.45 and the Trois nouvelles études, he has provided the cycle with a more recent echo in music by Federico Mompou. In their personality, their careers, their exclusive relationship with the piano, their attention to sonority, and their inward melody, the two composers have much in common.

Alexandra Dariescu presents the first disc in a 'Trilogy of Preludes' containing the complete works of this genre by Chopin and Dutilleux.

Frederic Chopin composed his 24 preludes, op.28, one in each of the 12 major and 12 minor keys, between 1835 and 1839, commissioned by the pianist, publisher, impresario and piano manufacturer Camille Pleyel.

Henri Dutilleux’s 3 Preludes were not designed as a set but composed at intervals between 1973 and 1994. Each Prelude is dedicated to a great Pianist: Artur Rubinstein (D’ombre et de silence), Claude Helffer (Sur um meme accord) and Eugene Istomin (Le jeu des contraries).

Alexandra finds the form of the Prelude as relevant today as in Chopin's time and was drawn to Dutilleux's use of polyphony and harmony in his fascinating contribution to an established genre.

Alexandra Dariescu is one of the most talented pianists of her generation and was featured as BBC Music Magazine’s Rising Star in June 2011. She has won the Guildhall Wigmore Prize and the Romanian Ambassador‘s prize for her outstanding contribution to promoting Romania’s image in the UK, and is currently a YCAT artist.

In June 2011, Beatrice Rana, then 18, became the youngest-ever winner of a first prize at the Montreal International Music Competition. She also won each of that year’s special prizes. She is, said Le Devoir, “not only a pianist but, above all, an artist.” Her ATMA solo CD is dedicated to Chopin’s Preludes Op. 28 and Scriabin’s Sonata No. 2 Op.19 — thrilling repertoire for an outstanding young pianist.

Beatrice Rana made her debut last season with several orchestras, including the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, the Südwestdeutsche Orchester, and the Aarhus Symfonieorkester in Denmark. She also performed as a guest artist with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the symphony orchestras of Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg, the Kuala Lumpur Philharmonic Orchestra, the Violons du Roy, and the Orchestre Métropolitain with Yannick Nézet-Seguin.

Beatrice Rana made her debut last season with several orchestras, including the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, the Südwestdeutsche Orchester, and the Aarhus Symfonieorkester in Denmark. She also performed as a guest artist with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the symphony orchestras of Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg, the Kuala Lumpur Philharmonic Orchestra, the Violons du Roy, and the Orchestre Métropolitain with Yannick Nézet-Seguin.

In addition to her First Prize in the Montreal Piano Competition last year, Rana has won numerous prizes at international competitions such as the Muzio Clementi Competion, the Concours International de San Marino, and the Bang & Olufsen Piano RAMA Competion.

She began studying piano when she was 4, and became a student of Benedetto Lupo at the Conservatorio Nino Rota, from which she graduated at the precocious age of 16. She now studies in Hanover with Arie Vardi.

This new recording of the complete Preludes of Frederick Chopin represents the debut on Telarc Classics of the highly regarded young Venezuelan-American pianist Vanessa Perez. In recent years she has been championed as one of the best young musical talents on the scene by the likes of legendary pianist Claudio Arrau and the great conductor Zubin Mehta.

Vanessa Perez is a product of the same energised musical culture in Venezuela that produced such international stars as conductor Gustavo Dudamel and pianist Gabriela Montero. In 2009 she performed alongside star violinist Joshua Bell in Astor Piazzolla’s ‘Oblivion’ on his “At Home with Friends” album for Sony Classical. She also worked with Jan Vogler on Piazzolla’s Le Grand Tango and other pieces for the cellist’s 2008 album “Tango”, also released by Sony. In 2005 she produced a solo album for VAI that featured Chopin’s four Ballades, pieces from Albéniz’s Ibería and a work by contemporary composer Suzanne Farrin.

Perez makes her Telarc Classics debut with an all-Chopin collection that includes the 24 Preludes Op. 28, and some other popular pieces, among them the Barcarolle in F sharp major and the Fantasie in F minor.