Chopin: The Piano Concertos Nikolai Lugansky

• 1 I. Maestoso 14:16
• 2 II. Larghetto 10:03
• 3 III. Allegro vivace 08:17
• 4 I. Allegro maestoso 20:36
• 5 II. Romanza: Larghetto 09:31
• 6 III. Rondo: Vivace 09:47
• Total Runtime 01:12:30

Info for Chopin: The Piano Concertos

Nikolai Lugansky offers a new refined and brilliant version of Chopin’s piano concertos, with the orchestra that probably has the best connection to the soul and the spirit of French-Polish composer, Sinfonia Varsovia, under Russian conductor Alexander Vedernikov.

As ever, Nikolai Lugansky displays a perfect balance between virtuosity and poetry through a perfect technique and an amazing range of colours. Together with the orchestra, sometimes almost chamber in character, they achieve to enhance both immediacy and sophistication of those works.

Capable of great refinement and sensitivity in Mozart and Chopin, and breathtaking virtuosity in Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, Nikolai Lugansky is a pianist of extraordinary depth and versatility. His solo recording, featuring Rachmaninov’s two Piano Sonatas, released in Autumn 2012 won a number of awards including an Echo Klassik, Diapason d’Or, ‘Gramophone Choice’, ‘Choc’ de Classica, and Scherzo ‘Excepcionales’, and was followed by a recording with Kent Nagano and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin of the Grieg Piano Concerto and Prokofiev’s Third.

Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Sinfonia Varsovia
Alexander Vedernikov, conductor

Recorded in July 2013 at the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio (Warsaw)
Recording producer: Nicolas Bartholomée
Editing, balance, mixing engineer: Maximilien Ciup and Nicolas Bartholomée
Executive producer: Little Tribeca

Nikolai Lugansky
Concerto highlights in Nikolai Lugansky’s 2013/14 season include his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra (Gianandrea Noseda), and returns to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (Jiří Bělohlávek), the Philharmonia Orchestra (Pablo Heras-Casado), St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Yuri Temirkanov) and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

In recital and chamber performances, Lugansky makes his debut at the Berlin Konzerthaus, and performs at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire and the Great Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonia, Chicago’s Symphony Center, Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and in the International Piano Series at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; his chamber music collaborations include performances with Vadim Repin, Mischa Maisky and Alexander Kniazev.

An acclaimed recording artist, Nikolai Lugansky records exclusively for the Naïve-Ambroisie label. His recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3 and Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Deutsches-Symphonie Orchester Berlin and Kent Nagano is released in autumn 2013. This release follows on from his first two acclaimed solo recordings - of Liszt and Rachmaninov - for the label; the latter being awarded the “Solo Recording of the Year (20th/21st Century Music)” plaudit at the 2013 Echo Klassik Awards.

Booklet for Chopin: The Piano Concertos