Chopin: Piano Concertos 1 & 2

Maria João Pires has enjoyed a lifelong association with the music of Chopin. The refinement of her touch and the sense of empathy she brings to his works are among the many qualities that have built her enviable reputation in this repertoire. When she gave a late-night BBC Promenade Concert devoted to the composer’s Nocturnes at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 2010, the rapt atmosphere and rave reviews only confirmed her status as one of the best-loved Chopin pianists of our time.

For some pianists, a romantic-era concerto represents a trial of strength, or the pitting of the individual against society. Nothing could be further from Pires’s concept of the two Chopin concertos. Recorded separately and released originally in couplings with other pieces (No.?2 in 1994, No.?1 in 1998), they are brought together here on one disc for the first time. Both are early works – the official “second” concerto predating the first (No.?2 was written when Chopin was only 19 and No.?1 soon afterwards, in 1830) – and the music is steeped in the youthful composer’s passions both for the folk music of his native Poland and for Italian bel canto.