Here’s your disc of the week for October 21, 2012. Each week CBC Radio 2’s In Concert looks at new classical music releases and selects one recording that you’ll want to know about.
Artist: Janina Fialkowska, piano.
Repertoire: Solo piano music by Chopin.
Label: Atma Classique.
Montreal-born pianist Janina Fialkowska can easily be considered one of Canada's national cultural treasures. She's a soulful artist with brilliant technique, deep and abiding musical integrity and a generosity of spirit that's rare in any realm.
Just a few months ago her remarkable international achievements were marked with a three-day celebration in Ottawa culminating in the presentation of Canada's 2012 Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement in classical music.
That same weekend she launched her second all-Chopin recording on the Atma Classique label, and it's a stunner. As Fialkowska told BBC Music Magazine, "it’s one gorgeous melody after another – a fabulous wave of emotion. It has depths and complexity, the rhythms of the heart of his country and all these colours. For me it is the most fascinating piano music ever written."
You'll hear highlights from Fialkowska's recordings of Chopin's solo piano pieces on CBC Radio 2's In Concert on Sunday, Oct. 21.
listen
Chopin: Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38.
Related:
Janina Fialkowska launches album, receives Governor General’s Award
Little rest for busy conductor
posted by
Denise Ball
on Oct 20, 2012