Alexandra Dariescu plays Chopin, Liszt & Schumann

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

a demanding programme - both technically and musically challenging, and well recorded by a history of virtuosos. It's a risky strategy for a debut disc, but overall it pays off. She is clearly... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 2nd Jul 2012
Catalogue No: CHRCD035
Label: Champs Hill Records
Length: 53 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Schumann: Variations on the Name Abegg, Op. 1 in F Major

Work length7:50

$1.50

$2.10

Alexandra Dariescu

Liszt: Ballade No. 2 in B minor, S171 / R16

Work length13:52

$2.00

$2.80

Alexandra Dariescu

Liszt: Isolde's Liebestod (after Wagner), S447

Work length7:03

$1.50

$2.10

Alexandra Dariescu

Chopin: Grande Polonaise Op. 22

Work length13:35

$2.50

$3.50

Alexandra Dariescu

I. Andante spiananto

Track length3:47

$1.00

$1.40

II. Grande polonaise brillante

Track length9:48

$1.50

$2.10

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

Work length11:00

$2.00

$2.80

Alexandra Dariescu

About
Reviews
Explore

About

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.

Reviews

Christmas 2012

a demanding programme - both technically and musically challenging, and well recorded by a history of virtuosos. It's a risky strategy for a debut disc, but overall it pays off. She is clearly a very musical player, with excellent instincts and a natural way of shaping the music, from her lovely phrasing to her broader articulation of structure...A very promising debut.

Awards Issue 2012

Dariescu's solo debut CD offers frequently recorded Romantic repertoire in performances that are generally refined, rounded off but rarely dramatic enough when the music requires it.

Alexandra Dariescu plays Chopin, Liszt & Schumann

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue