Paderewski and Chopin: Piano Concertos

It is not only since the Mozart Prize at the Concours Géza Anda 2018 that Claire Huangci has risen from insider-tip status to the ranks of internationally established and respected young pianists. After four successful solo albums — ranging from Russian ballet arrangements via Scarlatti to Chopin's complete Nocturnes and all of Rachmaninoff's Preludes — her first orchestral album for Berlin Classics now follows. Together with the rising South Korean conductor Shiyeon Sung and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Chopin's First Piano Concerto is placed in dialogue with the Piano Concerto by Paderewski. Chopin's First Piano Concerto is firmly established on the world's stages. Huangci knows that the Chopin of the piano concerto is a different one from the one she met when recording the Nocturnes. Paderewski, by comparison, is virtually unknown — yet not only is the man himself deeply interesting, his piano concerto too is rich in ideas and power. Why the work is so rarely played remains a mystery to Huangci: 'For the life of me I can't explain why this isn't one of the warhorses of the concert circuit.' The constellation of the recording is an ideal one: two composers who wrote this repertoire in their youngest years are interpreted by an equally young pianist. Huangci senses the freshness in the compositions: 'Both composers show real joy, a longing for life, and that has to do with their youth. You can hear that the works were written by two men looking expectantly into the future.' Her interpretation is equally fresh — never opaquely shimmering or transfiguringly bombastic, but always transparent and nuanced. The album radiates outwards in two directions: one of the best-known works for piano and orchestra offers a point of comparison with the lesser-known opus, and that lesser-known opus in turn allows hitherto unheard aspects of the 'classic' to be experienced afresh.