Chopin Op.22

In the great tradition of Russian pianist-composers, Trifonov may be rightly considered an heir to Rachmaninov - a passionate virtuoso at the keyboard and a Romantic spirit in his own compositions. With this album, the young artist pays tribute to his illustrious musical forefather with a fascinating programme comprising three sets of Rachmaninov Variations: the hyper-virtuostic Variations on a theme of Corelli and the rare Variations on a Theme of Chopin for solo piano, along with the famous and much-loved Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra.

Almost four hours of music constitutes exceptional value especially when, tucked away among a selection of Mazurkas, is Chopin's early "Variations on a German National Air". Vásáry charms you into wondering why it is so rarely heard.

Angela Hewitt has applied the same intense study to Chopin's Nocturnes and Impromptus as she does to any composer's keyboard works. The result is a set of pieces lovingly played and appreciated, with personally felt emotion. The most outwardly emotional displays, as in the Nocturnes, Op. 15, are never wildly loud and always return to an introverted state afterward. In the Nocturnes she uses little touches of rubato so frequently as to almost stretch the melodies out of shape, as in Op. 9/1, but she plays many of the Nocturnes a tick faster than other pianists so that they stand up to that kind of manipulation better, and she never slows down to fit in ornaments. Her ornaments always fit right into the melody, both in her timing and her phrasing, and are feathery soft.

Hailed as an "irresistibly fluid" by The New York Times and "illuminating" by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, pianist Eric Zuber releases his debut album, The Young Chopin, with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and conductor Wilbur Lin. The release celebrates the early piano repertoire of Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849), including his Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano' from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Op. 2; Andante spianato & Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22; and his Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11. Zuber writes, "The ingenuity of [Chopin's early] piano writing shows a complete technical understanding of the craft of the instrument, and the seductive beauty of his melodic and harmonic writing is second to none.