Chopin: Journal Intime

Already 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). 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.

Many of these pieces have been in Tharaud's repertoire since his student days: "I let time work for me. It is extraordinarily enriching to study a work when you are young and then revisit it in the course of your life. It becomes part of you."

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). His catalogue of recordings for Harmonia Mundi has contributed substantially to his reputation:

"Alexandre Tharaud [is] a young aristocrat of the keyboard. Cool, supple and elegant, all his performances are in the best French tradition; a fine union of sense and sensibility ... each phrase bringing a renewed sense of delight … the inwardness and grace one associates with true artists ... All these performances suggest a fastidious musical intelligence with an immaculate technique, the music's character and fragrance made light yet pervasive ... these scrupulously modern and sensitive performances are among the finest available." Gramophone

"Alexandre Tharaud plays Chopin with superlative technique. (...) He has recorded a breathtaking disc … This is intelligent playing that matches its clarity with perception and sensitivity, and variety of touch with sonic beauty. Tharaud is unfailingly responsive to melodic nuance and seems to relish every new twist of the texture. But there is also immense power when the dark energy beneath is unleashed. His concept plumbs the depths of Chopin's musical psyche with humility … a brilliant and original performance." BBC Music Magazine

"Alexandre Tharaud has dedicated his reading of Chopin's Préludes to the memory of Vlado Perlemuter, and it is as unhistrionic and clearly articulated as the versions left by the late pianist … Tharaud is immediately persuasive with his uncontrived musicality. The more serene pages unfold gracefully … [but] shadows often assert their menacing presence: the pianist has spoken of the darkness he finds in the cycle, and it makes itself felt, though with no suggestion of artificiality or overstatement." Diapason

" … New discs of Chopin's waltzes are invariably compared to Dinu Lipatti's ethereal 1950 recording, which still inspires cult-like devotion. But even die-hard Lipatti fans will be impressed with the powerfully evocative musicianship of the superb young French pianist Alexandre Tharaud. Languid, wistful and dignified, his spontaneous and imaginative interpretations reinforce the enchanting, otherworldly quality of Chopin's miniatures …" Time Out, New York

"His vision [of the Chopin waltzes] is completely personal - sensitive, but unaffected, sovereign in its pianism and always mobile, winged, in search of a multiplicity of voices and views." ClassicToday

"Alexandre Tharaud plays Chopin's waltzes with the naturalness that comes when one's wishes have been fulfilled … a wish to play, to speak, to sing, to be carried like a child on the momentum of the waltzes and to take private pleasure in these little things from a time when everything seemed simpler … Chopin's nostalgia is not just a Romantic cliché … there is a sense that music is taking the place of narrative, the better to tell the story of a lost land … Alexandre Tharaud surpasses every expectation … making this an indispensable disc." Arte

Tharaud takes a quietly unconventional approach to performance and to study. For instance, he gives concerts with the score to hand - he finds this liberating rather than restrictive, since he does not have to worry about possible lapses of memory - and he does not have his own piano, preferring to practise on friends' instruments. "It is by digging, by chipping away [at the score] that I find the answers, that I reach the colours I am searching for. Then, when it comes to the concert, the particularities of the instrument become secondary to some degree, since I am so used to engaging in a dialogue with any type of piano." Tharaud also feels that this approach maintains the freshness of his relationship with the piano: "It is rather like being part of a long-established couple: there comes a time where you need to be able to leave a little space, to manage the desire so that you can appreciate it all the more."