麻豆社

In the second of this week's series exploring Chopin's piano music, Welsh pianist Ll欧r Williams's programme centres around a sequence of studies from Chopin's Op 25 and Op 10. Recorded over 2021 and 2022 at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.

The 'etude' or 'study' originally evolved as a device for private practice. This idea was left far behind as Chopin's artistic ambitions moved the genre into the public eye and the concert hall. Dedicated to a piano virtuoso, Liszt, the Op 10 set were written between 1829 and 1832, with Op 25 following five years later. Their breath-taking invention calls on technical brilliance as well as a rich panoply of pianistic colours to evoke their contrasting characters, which range from the turbulence of the "Revolutionary", to the rippling effects of the so-called "Aeolian Harp" through to the physical demands of the exhilarating and breathless "Octaves".

Introduced by Sarah Walker

Chopin: Prelude in C sharp minor, op 45

Chopin: Etudes from Op 25 & Op 10
No 12 C minor, Op 10 "Revolutionary"
No 9 in F minor, Op 10
No 10 in A flat major, Op 10
No 11 in E flat major, Op 10 "Arpeggio"
No 3 in E major, Op 10 "Tristesse"
No 4 in C sharp minor, Op 10 "Torrent"
No 1 in A flat major, Op 25 鈥淎eolian harp鈥�
No 5 in E minor, Op 25
No 7 in C sharp minor, Op 25
No 10 in B minor, Op 25 "Octaves"
No 6 in E flat minor Op 10 "Lament"
No 12 in C minor, Op 25
Ll欧r Williams, piano

Chopin: Nocturne Op 48 no 1