these scrupulously modern and sensitive performances are among the finest available." Gramophone
All these performances suggest a fastidious musical intelligence with an immaculate technique, the music's character and fragrance made light yet pervasive. each phrase bringing a renewed sense of delight … the inwardness and grace one associates with true artists. Cool, supple and elegant, all his performances are in the best French tradition a fine union of sense and sensibility. “Alexandre Tharaud a young aristocrat of the keyboard. His catalogue of recordings for Harmonia Mundi has contributed substantially to his reputation: Tharaud, born in Paris in 1968, takes a discerning approach to repertoire, highlighting and often juxtaposing composers such as Bach, Rameau, Couperin, Chabrier, Satie, Ravel, Poulenc and Thierry Pécou (b.1965). It is extraordinarily enriching to study a work when you are young and then revisit it in the course of your life.
Many of these pieces have been in Tharaud’s repertoire since his student days: “I let time work for me. Each of the chosen pieces – mazurkas, nocturnes, ballades, the famous Fantaisie-impromptu and a number of other, lesser-known works – has a special importance or association for Tharaud, who cites the pianism of Vlado Perlemuter and Sergey Rachmaninov as a particular influence in the music of Chopin.
$ Īlready established as one of today’s most individual and thoughtful pianists, Alexandre Tharaud makes his debut on Virgin Classics with this collection of pieces by Chopin, ‘Journal intime’ (Private diary).