Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2

Newly signed to Warner Classics, the celebrated pianist Yundi performs Chopin's two Piano Concertos. He directs the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra from the keyboard, in his first ever recording as pianist-conductor. A past victor at the Chopin International Piano Competition, Yundi is particularly well known for his Chopin. This is his first recording of the Second Concerto.

Featuring

Yundi
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Frédéric Chopin

Did you know?

1/7

Compositional Technique

Chopin's approach to the piano concerto genre, called stile brillante, emphasizes the piano part and showcases the soloist's keyboard prowess.

Critical Reception

At its Paris debut in 1832, the E minor Concerto was praised by François-Joseph Fétis in La Revue musicale for its 'spirit in these melodies, fantasy in these passages, and everywhere originality'.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Chopin's two Piano Concertos are his only conventional large-scale works with orchestra, as he preferred to concentrate on smaller forms.

Compositional Technique

In the E minor Concerto's slow movement, Chopin instructed the strings to be muted, describing the effect as a 'silvery tone' created by a 'sort of comb' spanning the strings.

Composition History

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, was actually written before the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, but published second.

Composer Biography

Frédéric Chopin, a self-taught prodigy, had his first composition published and debuted as a soloist with orchestra at the age of eight.

Composition History

Chopin confessed that the central Larghetto of his F minor Concerto was inspired by his unrequited love for Konstancja Gładkowska, a singer classmate.