The works on this album span almost Chopin's entire career, from an early display piece to some of his last and most intimate musical expressions.
Recording & Production
This recording was made using 24-bit / 96 kHz technology, which offers a dynamic range up to 48 dB greater and 256 times the resolution of standard 16-bit recordings.
Composition History
Chopin's Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano', Op. 2, was originally composed for piano and orchestra when he was seventeen, but he later arranged it for solo piano.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Chopin deliberately chose the mazurka genre, relatively unfamiliar outside Eastern Europe, to distinguish himself from other pianist-composers and shape its meaning in Western Europe.
Performer Biography
Louis Lortie, the pianist on this recording, has a thirty-year relationship with Chandos Records and has produced over forty-five recordings, including complete Beethoven sonatas and Liszt's Années de pèlerinage.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Nearly all the compositions on this album are tied to Chopin's native Poland, either written there or constructed as sounding portraits of his lost country.
Critical Reception
Robert Schumann, a German composer and influential music critic, famously reviewed Chopin's Op. 2 Variations in 1831, proclaiming, 'Hats off, gentlemen, a genius.'
