Marianna Shirinyan - Piano Concertos - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Renowned Armenian-born pianist Marianna Shirinyan performs some of Chopin's most fascinating and fiendish pieces the four Ballades and four Scherzos. Chopin coined the term 'ballade', harking back to medieval minstrels singing poetic ballads. His four Ballades are quite different in character, but share a sense of Romantic story-telling in their dramatic contrasts and virtuoso display. The first three of Chopin's four Scherzos are fiery and dissonant; all four are exceptionally challenging. The Scherzo No. 1 is sometimes dubbed 'The Infernal Banquet' owing to it's devilish character, which is juxtaposed with a central lullaby based on the Polish carol 'Sleep, little Jesus'. Schumann regarded Chopin's Scherzo No. 2 as Byronic in the grandeur of it's passion, and the Scherzo No. 3 is also remarkably daring, with an almost Wagnerian chorale. Chopin's Scherzo No. 4 is the only one in a major key, yet it's relatively serene nature, with fluid, whimsical twists and turns, also makes it one of the most demanding to play.

• In it's latest project, the Chorus sine nomine, one ofAustria's leading choirs, under it's founder and directorJohannes Hiemetsberger has turned to a very special work the Miserere by Gregorio Allegri in an arrangement forsaxophone and three choirs a cappella by Vladimir Ivanoff.• The setting of the 51st Psalm from the 1630s, which isuniquely captivating due to it's simplicity, was a fixedcomponent of the liturgy of Easter week in the SixtineChapel in Rome for over 250 years and soon achieved cultstatus because of the high penalties on it's 'pirate copy'.• Here, the three-choir ensemble is in a subtle equilibriumwith the young saxophonist Michael Krenn and meets anytrace of sentimental mush with the respect due.• Recorded in the splendid Viennese acoustic of the OttoWagner designed Church am Steinhof, built in the firstdecade of the 20th c. on the grounds of the then LowerAustrian State Asylum.

Armenian-born pianist Marianna Shirinyan and Polish pianist Dominik Wizjan began their collaboration at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where Shirinyan is a professor. On this Orchid Classics they play both Suites for Two Pianos by Rachmaninov - works that are relatively rarely heard compared with much of the composer's output, yet which reveal much about the evolution of his style. The Suite No.1 for two pianos, 'Fantaisie-Tableaux', was composed when Rachmaninov was only 20 and is unusual in his output for it's programmatic movements, each one inspired by a poem and already exhibiting his characteristic virtuosity and aching expressivity. The Suite No. 2 was written seven years later in the wake of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2; he was at the peak of his powers, resulting in music that is both staggeringly demanding to play and bewitching to hear.