Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Barcarolle en fa dièse majeur, op. 60
Polonaise-Fantaisie en la bémol majeur, op. 61
Nocturne en si majeur, op. 62 n° 1
Nocturne en mi majeur, op. 62 n° 2
Mazurka en si majeur, op. 63 n° 1
Mazurka en mi majeur, op. 63 n° 2
Mazurka en do dièse mineur, op. 63 n° 3
Mazurka en la mineur, op. 67 n° 4
Mazurka en sol mineur, op. 67 n° 2
Mazurka en fa mineur, op. 68 n° 2
Valse en ré bémol majeur, op. 64 n° 1
Valse en do dièse mineur, op. 64 n° 2
Valse en la bémol majeur, op. 64 n° 3

Julius-Jeongwon Kim, piano

With this album, the Korean pianist returns to recording the Chopin repertoire. Twenty years after his debut album, featuring, among others, complete scherzos, he reaches for works from the last period of the composer’s oeuvre. He shares with the listeners a nostalgic reflection on musical maturity in the face of impending death while hoping that they will experience the solace and peace that Chopin felt when working on these pieces. The pianist’s intention is to show Chopin as an honest and direct person, not an anguished Romantic. Educated in Vienna and Paris, known to Polish audiences for his participation in the largest festivals, the pianist does not want to be labelled as a Chopin specialist, since he is also fascinated by the music of other composers of the Romantic era, including Rachmaninoff or Schubert. This can be heard in his virtuoso interpretations, free of the typically Polish performance idiom, focused on the quest for a personal vision.