Hélène Grimaud MEMORY

Music has been described as a means of rescuing that which is lost – a simple yet persuasive idea and one which informs Hélène Grimaud’s working definition of the art form. The French pianist’s latest Deutsche Grammophon recording addresses music’s unique ability to bring images of the past back to life in the present moment, to conjure up vivid evocations of time and place. Memory, set for release on 28 September 2018, explores the nature of recollection through a series of exquisite pianistic miniatures. Grimaud’s choice of repertoire embraces everything from impressionistic reveries by Chopin and Debussy to the timeless, folk-like melodies of Valentin Silvestrov.

Memory and music make perfect partners. Both are fleeting, never fixed, always subject to interpretation. Our identities are formed from memories, just as so many of our most enduring experiences are rooted in music. Hélène Grimaud wanted to explore the universal nature of memory, its place in the lives of us all. Memory, she explains, uses music to probe the many levels of human consciousness.

“Music peels back the layers of time to reveal the essence of experience,” she observes. “Momentary pain, distress, elation, fades – what remains is sensation. Sensation is the resonance of experience in the space of memory. And it is the space where music resonates within each of us – touching us, moving us, bringing us closer to ourselves. In that way, music can also help remind us that for all in our daily lives that is trivial, there’s a place where meaning is stored. And that it is not forgetfulness that is our burden, but the capacity to reflect and remember that is the wonder of being alive.” The pianist’s eloquent discourse on memory touches both the universal and the particular. It reveals, above all, much about her sensibility for music as a natural process, one shaped in the moment of creation and re-creation by instinct and intuition.

Memory follows in the wake of Grimaud’s Water album, a thought-provoking consideration of the world’s most precious resource. Her latest release complements its predecessor, not least by exploring another condition of life all too easily taken for granted until it begins to disappear.

Grimaud chose compositions that speak directly to memory, creating a programme of works which through their simplicity can bypass the barriers of rational thinking to unlock powerful moods, feelings and sensations. These miniatures are not weighty structures; rather, they possess what she aptly describes as immaterial qualities. Each of the album’s fifteen tracks suggests fleeting impressions of a thought recollected, a dream reimagined, an experience recalled to mind. Memory, she says, “serves to conjure atmospheres of fragile reflection, a mirage of what was – or what could have been”.

Her artistry flourished in the sacred space of the Himmelfahrtskirche in Munich’s Sendling  district. The recording venue, a former beer hall converted into a church a century ago, made a lasting impression on her. “The feeling of being alone in a cavernous, resonant space, a building itself constructed as a vessel for spiritual introspection, was immersive,” she recalls. “I am not necessarily a natural colourist yet to be surrounded by resonance – of the notes and between the notes – profoundly changes one’s concept of producing sound. The music must be so transparent as to allow the poetry to shimmer though.”

For composers, memory plays a central role in transmitting influence. Debussy, for instance, absorbed formative lessons from his studies of Chopin and recalled them later in life when composing pieces such as Rêverie and La plus que lente. His musical language also drew impressions from the harmonies of his friend Erik Satie. The points of coincidence emerge clearly in Memory.

Hélène Grimaud highlights the meditative character of works by all three composers, surrounding the heartfelt nostalgia of Chopin’s Nocturne in E minor Op.72 No.1 with a sequence of Satie’s minimalist miniatures, the first of his famous sets of Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies among them. The pianist also spotlights the common ground between two of Silvestrov’s subtle Bagatelles, products of the early 2000s, and Debussy’s beguiling Arabesque No.1 in E major, an early work inspired by the elegant lines and curves of Nature.

Hélène Grimaud compares Valentin Silvestrov’s keyboard miniatures to the image of ‘breathing light’, a poetic metaphor that might easily stand for the haunting impressions left by Memory. (Deutsche Grammophon)

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Anne Queffélec ENTREZ DANS LA DANSE...

The same qualities as on her delightful cornucopia ‘Satie & Compagnie’ (4/13) are on display again in Anne Queffélec’s programme of dances from the belle époque and inter-war periods in France. All the composers were either disciples or pupils of one another or personal friends. Stylistically, it is easy to hear the cross-references: ‘Their works engaged in dialogue, nourished and interpenetrated each other’, as the excellent booklet has it. You can hear Faure’s Le pas espagnol, for instance, either as an affectionate tribute to or tongue-in-cheek pastiche of Chabrier. It was Fauré who provided early inspiration for the Catalan Federico Mompou, the sole outsider in nationality on this album (though not in terms of musical style) and whose Canción y Danza No 4 opens proceedings.

Again, Queffélec mixes the familiar with the less well known, with enough of the latter to entice any pianophile to invest and pianist to track down the sheet music (as an example, your reviewer has now finally got round to having a serious look at Poulenc’s Suite française). Her approach to the music is one of enchanting simplicity. No show, no grandstanding; she beckons the listener to leave what they are doing, if they wish, and to come over and join her. Minimum pedal, lovely finger legato, each note of these economically scored pieces intimately projected and made to tell.

Le pas espagnol, mentioned above, is one of five (out of the 24) tracks in which Queffélec is joined by Gaspard Dehaene. Notwithstanding the exuberant nature of this and a few others (Massenet’s Valse folle first among them), the general tenor of the 82-minute programme is one of reflection and introspection, a welcome balm, and warmly recommended. (Jeremy Nicholas / Gramophone)

Anne Queffélec SATIE & COMPAGNIE

From the wit of Satie to the to the poetry of Debussy, French music of the early decades of the twentieth century was created by exceptional and imaginative minds capable of grasping delicate nuances and shining infinite variations of light on the natural world and the human soul. Renowned for her diverse repertoire and impressive discography, French pianist Anne Queffelec has a special affinity for this repertoire. On this delightful collection from Mirare, Queffelec leads us down the varied and colorful pathways of some of the most fascinating French music for piano ever written.

Marie-Catherine Girod / Quatuor Pražák GABRIEL DUPONT

Gabriel Dupont, who lived to the age of only 36 before succumbing to tuberculosis in 1914, is one of those late-19th- and early 20th-century French composers whom history has eclipsed in favour of such leading lights as Debussy and Ravel, yet in 1901 Dupont beat Ravel into third place by coming second in the Prix de Rome (André Caplet won first prize with the cantata Myrrha). Despite success with opera in his day, Dupont’s name has survived largely through his piano cycles Les heures dolentes (1903 05) and La maison dans les dunes (1907 09).

In these miniatures, as Marie-Catherine Girod shows in these affectionately turned performances of selections from both sets, Dupont expressed an attractive, limpid wistfulness. His illness, which dogged him for his last decade, not only removed him from the centres of musical activity in Paris but also seems to have wrapped him in a mood of inner reflection – by no means always sad, as can be heard, for instance, in the scintillating ‘Du soleil au jardin’ and ‘Coquetteries’ from Les heures dolentes, but generally with a sense of regret that he cannot completely enjoy his surroundings while encumbered with ill-health. ‘Mélancolie du bonheur’ (‘Melancholy of Happiness’) seems to be his overriding state of mind. Journée de printemps for violin and piano is a beguiling diptych of a spring morning and evening; but not even Girod and the excellent Pražák  Quartet can rescue the overlong, suffocatingly overheated Poème (Geoffrey Norris / Gramophone)

Marie-Catherine Girod GABRIEL DUPONT La Maison dans les dunes GUSTAVE SAMAZEUILH Le Chant de la mer

Marie-Catherine Girod has won a unique place in the music world thanks to the audacious and virtuosic manner with which she defends unknown and rarely played works. With flawless technique and sincere conviction, she has introduced audiences the world over to composers such as Decaux, Tournemire, Le Flem, D'Indy, Emmanuel, Aubert, Bax and Bowen. 

At the same time, Ms. Girod devotes the same ardor and devotion to the standard repertoire, and her recordings of Chopin, Frank, Rachmaninoff and Weber have won critical and popular acclaim. 

A regular featured artist at major French music festivals, such as the Festival Chopin de Bagatelle or the Festival de Nohant, La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée in Nantes and Tokyo. Ms. Girod has performed in major venues all over Europe, including the Settembre Musica of Turin, and the Husum rare piano music festival in Germany. She is also a regular guest on radio broadcasts of France Musique and Radio Classique.

Marie Catherine Girod is Chevalier des Arts et Lettres et Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite. With an impressive discography comprising over fourty titles of which a large number are world premieres, Ms. Girod has received numerous awards for her recordings: Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, 10 de Répertoire-the major French music magazines have all praised her original repertoire where one can hear Pierre Octave Ferroud and Gabriel Dupont next to Manuel Rosenthal or Gustave Samazeuilh.

The Grand Prix de l’Académie du Disque Français was awrded two times to Ms. Girod, for her recording of sonatas by Georges Auric, Henri Dutilleux and André Jolivet, and again for her complete cycle of the sonatas of Maurice Emmanuel. 

She also received the Grand Prix International Charles Cros for her recording of the works of Arthur Lourié. Recently, she recorded for Mirare the “Poème” from Gabriel Dupont with Prazàk quartet for the label Mirare Concert artist and pedagogue, she is professor in Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. 

Impassioned, enthusiastic and sensitive in all her appearances on stage, Marie-Catherine Girod strives in all her repertoire to present the piano in all its aspects at the highest artistic level.

Josu De Solaun ENESCU Complete Works For Solo Piano

As a First Prize winner of the XIII George Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest, the Spanish pianist JOSU DE SOLAUN has been invited to perform in distinguished concert series throughout the world, having made notable appearances in Bucharest (Romanian Athenaeum), Venice (Teatro La Fenice), St Petersburg (Mariinsky Theatre), Washington, DC (Kennedy Center), New York (Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera), Princeton (Taplin Hall), London (Southbank Centre), Paris (Salle Cortot), Leipzig (Schumann Haus), Taipei (Novel Hall), Mexico City (Sala Silvestre Revueltas), Prague (Nostitz Palace), and Rome (Academia de España). He is the only pianist from Spain to win the Enescu and Iturbi competitions in their respective histories, and was invited to a private reception with the King and Queen of Spain at the Royal Palace after winning the coveted Bucharest prize. Josu De Solaun is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music.

Giorgio Koukl / Virginia Rossetti LUTOSŁAWSKI Complete Piano Music

Witold Lutosławski’s few surviving apprentice works are suffused with the elegance of Ravel and the lush effusiveness of Szymanowski, and this is particularly true of the early Piano Sonata, heard here in Giorgio Koukl’s new and corrected edition based on the original manuscript. Further premières include the wistful A Kiss of Roxanne and the technically complex Invention. Including all of the folk-music tinted pedagogical miniatures, works for piano four hands and other occasional pieces, this is the most comprehensive edition of Lutosławski’s works for solo piano ever recorded.

Claire Désert SCHUMANN Fantaisie - Trois Romances - Scènes de la Forêt

Claire Désert seduces her audience with her graceful, profound and humble interpretations. She is in the line-up of important French and international festivals, and she regularly performs with important symphonic orchestras.

At 14, she entered the Paris Conservatoire and graduated with a First Prize in chamber music in Jean Hubeau’s class and a unanimous First Prize in piano in Venislav Yankoff’s class.  She was recognized at an early age and the French government selected her to pursue her studies at the Moscow Tchaïkovski Conservatory, in Evgeni Malinin’s class.

Claire Désert is an exceptional artist and a World-class chamber musician. Her favorite partners are pianist Emmanuel Strosser, cellist Anne Gastinel, violonists Philippe Graffin and Tedi Papavrami, the Quatuor Sine Nomine and the Quintette Moraguès. 

Since her very first disc, Claire Désert has summoned the Schumannian rages in solo or in chamber music.

Here, with three major piano works, she portrays the soul of German Romanticism, from its dark forests to its popular romances.

This is also the whole universe of Schumann, between virtuosity, madness and fervour.

Anna Liszewska FRANZ XAVER MOZART Piano Works

Franz Xaver Mozart, the youngest son of Wolfgang Amadeus, has some 30 piano works to his name. They include nine cycles of variations with opus numbers, three sets of Polonaises melancholiques, sonatas, fantasies, rondos, and several smaller forms. In contrast to his father, he never displayed a performing interest in any instrument other than the piano. He used his outstanding performing skills in his compositional output, the lion’s share of which was for the piano. It is these works that pianist Anna Liszewska has included on this release. Anna Liszewska studied at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, gaining her diploma in 1995. She later went on to study under Barbara Halska, John Owings, and Andrzej Jasinski. In addition to an active performing and recording career, Anna is a teacher, and has directed a piano class at the Henryk Wieniawski Primary and Secondary Music Schools, and is on the faculty of the Music Academy in Lodz, lecturing in the Department of Piano, Organ, Harpsichord, Early Music, and Jazz.

Matthias Roth MIROIRS

The two composers on this Genuin Classics recording represent their country as figureheads of colour and sound: The Pole Karol Szymanowski and the Frenchman Maurice Ravel. The Swiss pianist Matthias Roth has put together an exquisite programme for his GENUIN debut CD, which he has recorded with a crystal-clear sound and lively articulation that is unrivaled in terms of quality. You don't know what to admire more: the great works of Ravel that one knows well but experiences anew, or the unexplored beauty of Szymanowski's works, which are worth the exciting voyage of discovery in every moment!

Virginia Black JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU Keyboard Works

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764) was born in Dijon two years before the births of Bach, Scarlatti and Handel. He is probably best known for his operas, but also wrote chamber music and over 60 works for harpsichord. These keyboard compositions, which he wrote between 1706 and 1728 and spread over three volumes, differ greatly from the style of his contemporaries. Rameau’s intellectualism and technical brilliance of composition, allied with passion and tenderness combine, in his words, to produce ‘true music… the language of the heart’. This disc features pieces from three of the four suites Rameau wrote for the harpsichord. I have selected these to illustrate Rameau’s extraordinary talent in descriptive, innovative and often virtuosic writing, and to show how the piano can enhance the works through singing tone and tonal nuance. (Virginia Black)

Moye Chen FOUR WORLDS

This album has a lot of spirit, and doesn’t lack for technical accomplishment. Chinese pianist Moye Chen has taken as his theme three composer/pianists (or in the case of Vladimir Horowitz it’s really pianist/composer) who made their home in the USA – Grainger, Horowitz and Rachmaninov.

In some ways this feels like a project in which – to use a gastronomic analogy – the dessert comes before the main course, because I can imagine almost any of the first 13 of the 16 tracks working as recital encores. Chen is wonderfully inside Grainger’s crunchy textures and hearty sentimentality, and his reading of Colonial Song is particularly gorgeous. He’s also in command of Grainger’s wild ragtime fantasy In Dahomey, where not only does the “feel” come to him naturally, but the considerable pianistic challenges hold no terrors for him either. Here, and in Horowitz’s outlandish fantasy on The Stars and Stripes Forever, Chen’s impish sense of humour is well to the fore.

He has a fine ear for the young Rachmaninov’s dynamism and elegance, and his singing line in the Op. 3 Mélodie is beautiful to behold. But his leisurely way with the Russian composer’s transcription of the Minuet from Bizet’s L’Arlesienne music is a harbinger of problems to come in his reading of the album’s grand finale, Rachmaninov’s Piano Sonata No 2. It sounds to me as if Chen has fallen in love with the music, not wisely, but too well, and is oftentimes reluctant to move on. In a big work like this the pianist is also ideally a strategist and a story-teller, someone who helps you perceive the landscape from a distance while also pointing out the beauty of the next hill. The piece holds no fears for Chen technically, but the competition on disc is fierce, and Ashkenazy, Jablonski and Kocsis (all on Decca), to name just three, have a better sense than Chen of how to pace this music. (Phillip Sametz)

Sung-Won Yang / Enrico Pace CANTIQUE D'AMOUR

Cellist Sung-Won Yang’s debut album entirely devoted to Kodály was “the editor’s choice of the month” Gramophone Magazine and “critic’s choice of the year” Gramophone Magazine in the UK (2003). Since then, intelligence and originality of his interpretation and play have been world-widely praised by both the critics and the music fans, and have led him to appear on such prestigious venues as the Lincoln Center, the Salle Pleyel, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Royal Concertgebouw. Especially, his complete recording series of Kodály, Beethoven Sonatas/Variations, Brahms/Schumann for cello and piano, Bach’s 6 suites for solo cello, Beethoven trios (either for EMI or Decca/Universal) received international recognition. Pianist Enrico Pace, who began his international career as a winner of the Utrecht International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 1989, is one of the popular soloists and chamber musicians. He has performed with major orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, The Bamberger Symphoniker and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Pace enjoys on-going partnerships with violinists Leonidas Kavakos, Frank Peter Zimmermann and Liza Ferschtman.

Leif Ove Andsnes CHOPIN Ballades & Nocturnes

Chopin: Ballades & Nocturnes for solo piano by Leif Ove Andsnes, "a pianist of magisterial elegance, power and insight" (New York Times). 

Interspersing the Romantic master composer’s four Ballades – works immense in the range and power of their expression – with three of his nocturnes, the new album represents the Norwegian pianist’s first recording of Chopin’s music in more than a decade. 

"There were quite a few years where I didn’t play much Chopin. He felt complicated to me, and I was not at ease with him. Something has happened to me in the last ten years, I don’t know what it is, but now I experience his music as so unbelievably great, so unique a voice, much more than before. My relationship to this composer is much more intimate." (Leif Ove Andsnes)

Víkingur Ólafsson JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Víkingur Ólafsson is a musical free spirit with a mission. He first made the classical world sit up and listen in early 2017 with his recording of solo piano works by Philip Glass – a fascinating journey through the time and space of their minimalist structures. Glass is now followed by Bach. Set for release in September, Ólafsson’s second Deutsche Grammophon album, the pithily entitled Bach, contains a mixture of original works and transcriptions which the pianist has woven together in intriguing style.

“It would all mean nothing without Bach,” says Ólafsson. “If Glass’s music is minimal, then Bach’s is maximal!” Having studied his music intensively, he here casts new light on some of the composer’s many different faces. Excerpts from the Well-Tempered Clavier such as the Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 855 or contrapuntal gems such as the Sinfonia No. 15 in B minor, BWV 801 showcase him as, in Ólafsson’s words, “the master of the short story”, while the larger-scale but playful Aria variata, BWV 989 forms the structural heart of the album. The original works are juxtaposed with colourful contributions from other composers, including Rachmaninov’s arrangement of the Gavotte from the Partita No. 3 for Violin in E major, BWV 1006; Busoni’s transcription of the chorale “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”; and Ólafsson’s own mesmerising transcription of the first aria from the solo cantata for alto “Widerstehe doch der Sünde”. As his Glass album demonstrated, the pianist is an intelligent and innovative sculptor of sound, an artist who defies conventional categorization and is redefining classical music. On Bach, the 34-year-old’s lean but immensely expressive playing captivates listeners, his eloquence and the sensuous delight he takes in experimentation holding them spellbound.

The infinitely inspirational power of Bach’s music will be heard again on Ólafsson’s next recording. Scheduled for release on Deutsche Grammophon in late 2018/early 2019, the album will bring together atmospheric reworkings of music by composers such as Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Ben Frost, Peter Gregson and Valgeir Sigurðsson – reimaginings that artfully defragment the creations of Bach. It will also feature a moving and intimate new work Ólafsson has written in memory of his late friend and colleague Jóhann Jóhannsson.

“Everything is there in Johann Sebastian’s music: architectural perfection and profound emotion,” says Ólafsson. In his hands, the universe that is Bach shines with new light.

Axia Marinescu INTROSPECTIONS

"Look well into yourself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if you will look there " 

It’s through the lens of Marcus Aurelius’ quote that I took the path of conceiving this CD. The introspection down to the deepest intimacy of my inner self determined the recording’s programme choice, which can appear eclectic at first sight, but is based in fact upon interiority and confession, as its essence. 

Mozart, Brahms and Debussy meet together on a realm where the emotion released points to our individual truth as human beings. Music transforms the objective world around us, as well as our individual subjectiveness, throughout a network of internal resources. 

The emotional tumult which is triggered by the three works on this CD doesn’t explode at the surface of the outer world, but manages to change our sensitivity and perception from within. All this is realized by the means of tiny concentrated energy sparks, which are organized in the miniature form, and then reunited under the umbrella of the cycle of works (theme and variations in Mozart’s sonata, six contrasting character-wise compositions by Brahms and three distinct images by Debussy). Thus, the recording deals with variations on an introspective theme... (Axia Marinescu)

Paavali Jumppanen DEBUSSY Préludes - Children's Corner

Debussy’s oeuvre has been explored both by the amateur pianist and the most legendary virtuosos of the keyboard. Throughout his career Debussy sought new ways to express his musical vistas. He began numerous large compositional projects and between these big ventures wrote miniatures such as songs and piano pieces. Fine examples of these are the Préludes and the Children’s Corner.

Debussy’s 24 piano preludes were published in two sets in 1910 and 1913. These miniatures are varied in character and style, and include, among others, references to literature, poetry, nature, the Mediterranean landscape and the events in Paris during Debussy’s lifetime. This work resulted in the creation of such enigmatic pieces as La cathédrale engloutie, La fille aux cheveux de lin and Des pas sur la neige, to name but a few. 

The six pieces forming the cycle Children’s Corner (1908) evoke adult recollections of childhood. The set bears a dedication to Debussy’s daughter Chouchou and includes some of Debussy’s most well-known piano pieces, including The Snow is Dancing and Golliwogg’s cake walk. 

A dedicated performer of French music, Paavali Jumppanen often performs the large cycles of Debussy’s late period, namely the Préludes and the Études. About a Debussy recital, The Boston Globe reported how “Jumppanen maximized piano’s deeply resonant qualities—not just to create beautiful sound but to point up how radical Debussy’s harmonic language was.” Another critic (ConcertoNet.com) noted: ”I was bowled over by Mr. Jumppanen’s performance. - - As for his upcoming recording of the complete Debussy Preludes, sight-unseen, I would urge any collector to grab it: if it is anything like the Etudes we heard last Sunday, we are in for a treat!” New York Arts continued: “Magnificent recital. - - I cannot imagine a more penetrating, subtle, and beautiful traversal of Debussy’s final statement for the piano.”

Jiyoon Lee / Henry Kramer MYTHES

As part of her prize for winning the Windsor Festival International Strings Competition in 2015, South Korean violinist Jiyoon Lee makes her debut recording on Champs Hill Records with duo partner Henry Kramer in a recital of Stravinsky, Wieniawski, Bartok, Szymanowski and Ravel. · Winning the David Oistrakh competition in 2013, Jiyoon Lee subsequently won prizes in the Indianapolis, Queen Elizabeth and Carl Nielsen competitions, in addition to Windsor, and is now performing around the world. Henry Kramer has similarly won prizes in the Queen Elizabeth and Montreal competitions and an award winner at the Julliard School.

Vanessa Wagner LISZT, PÄRT

Liszt liked to introduce himself as « half Franciscan, half Gypsy», allowing sensual pleasures to mingle with a profound mystical feeling. With Poetic and Religious Harmonies, inspired by a volume of poetry by Lamartine, the title seems to encapsulate the composer’s passions: literature and spirituality.

In this work, Liszt, the greatest virtuoso of his time and the inventor of the recital, enhances all expressive and technical possibilities of the piano, elevating his favourite instrument to the rank of the ambassador of romanticism.

Pavel Kolesnikov BEETHOVEN

London-based Pavel Kolesnikov was born into a Siberian family of scientists and studied both the piano and violin for ten years, before concentrating solely on the piano. He went on to study at the Moscow State Conservatory with Sergey Dorensky, London’s Royal College of Music with Norma Fisher, and at Brussels’ Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Maria João Pires thanks to generous support from Mr Christopher D Budden, the RCM Scholarship Foundation and the Hattori Foundation. During his studies he was awarded the Milstein Medal and the RCM Benjamin Britten Piano Fellowship supported by the Philip Loubser Foundation.

Since becoming Prize Laureate of the Honens Prize for Piano in 2012, Pavel has performed extensively across the globe including at such venues as Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Melbourne Recital Centre, Saitama Theatre in Tokyo, and the Louvre Auditorium in Paris. Following his Wigmore Hall debut in January 2014, The Daily Telegraph gave his recital a rare five-star review declaring it ‘one of the most memorable of such occasions London has witnessed in a while’.

Pavel was a member of BBC Radio 3’s prestigious New Generation Artists scheme from 2014 to 2016. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2016 performing Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto No 2 conducted by Ilan Volkov, and was invited to return in 2017 to give an all-Chopin solo recital. He maintains a busy career as a recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic and Russian National orchestras, and the City of Birmingham, Toronto, BBC, Czech National and Flanders symphony orchestras.

His debut studio recording, of Tchaikovsky’s The seasons for Hyperion, was met with critical acclaim, and his second album, of Chopin Mazurkas, won a Diapason d’Or and a Gramophone Award nomination whilst earning Pavel a place in The Daily Telegraph’s ‘Cultural Best of 2016’.

Pavel believes that arts are best understood in their multitude rather then in separation and isolation. Painting and photography are areas of particular interest for him, as are fashion and perfumery. He is an avid collector of fine perfume and specimens in his collection date from the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present day.