Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo Lucille Chung & Alessio Bax

• Francis Poulenc (1899-1963):
• 1 Improvisation No. 1 in B Minor 01:35
• 2 Improvisation No. 2 in A-Flat Major 01:37
• 3 Improvisation No. 3 in B Minor 01:37
• 4 Improvisation No. 4 in A-Flat Major 01:30
• 5 Improvisation No. 5 in A Minor 01:45
• 6 Improvisation No. 6 in B-Flat Major 01:35
• 7 Improvisation No. 7 in C Major 02:44
• 8 Improvisation No. 8 in A Minor 01:36
• 9 Improvisation No. 9 in D Major 01:29
• 10 Improvisation No. 10 in F Major, "Eloge des gammes" 02:11
• 11 Improvisation No. 11 in G Minor 00:51
• 12 Improvisation No. 12 in E-Flat Major, "Hommage a Schubert" 02:10
• 13 Improvisation No. 13 in A Minor 02:23
• 14 Improvisation No. 14 in D-Flat Major 01:28
• 15 Improvisation No. 15 in C Minor, "Hommage a Edith Piaf" 03:23
• 16 Novelette sur un thème de Manuel de Falla, FP 173 02:43
• 2 Novelettes, FP 47:
• 17 Novelette No. 1 in C Major: Modere sans lenteur 02:01
• 18 Novelette No. 2 in B-Flat Minor: Tres rapide et rythme 02:40
• Sonata for Piano 4 hands, FP 8:
• 19 I. Prelude 02:01
• 20 II. Rustique 01:48
• 21 III. Final 01:58
• 22 L'embarquement pour Cythère, FP 150 02:16
• Concerto for 2 Pianos in D Minor, FP 61:
• 23 I. Allegro ma non troppo 07:31
• 24 II. Larghetto 05:24
• 25 III. Finale 05:55
• Total Runtime 01:02:11

Info zu Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo

Poulenc was a skilled pianist, cultivating a style of playing characterised by colorfulness and clarity, possessing an ear for melody that distinguished him as France’s finest song composer since Fauré.

Canadian pianist Lucille Chung – acclaimed for her “stylish and refined performances” by Gramophone magazine, “combining vigor and suppleness with natural eloquence and elegance” – appears as a soloist on this new recording, performing Poulenc’s Improvisations and Novelettes before being joined by her duo partner (and husband) Alessio Bax for L’embarquement pour Cythere, the Sonata for Four Hands and Concerto for Two Pianos.

"Lucille Chung proves a fantastic Poulenc advocate...Alessio Bax, Chung's husband, joins her in the remaining works - and the result is a marriage of shared executive excellence in the cheeky Sonata for Four Hands and optimistic L'embarquement pour Cythere. In the composer's two-piano reduction of the Concerto for Two Pianos Chung and Bax tackle a sizeable work with aplomb, ferociously attaching the outer movements and achieving a delicious romance in the glorious central one. This is a release to savour. (Classical Ear)

„This is an interesting combination of the familiar and the unfamiliar. The Novelettes are quite well known, the 15 Improvisations, not so. For me the most attractive piece here is Poulenc’s own arrangement for two pianos of his Concerto for two pianos. The slow movement alone is worth the price of this exceptional disc." (Classic FM)

Alessio Bax, piano
Lucille Chung, piano

Lucille Chung
Canadian pianist Lucille Chung is renowned for her “blazing gutsy performance[s]” (The Washington Post). Born in Montréal, Canadian pianist Lucille Chung has been acclaimed for her “stylish and refined performances” by Gramophone magazine, “combining vigor and suppleness with natural eloquence and elegance” (Le Soir). Ms. Chung has been making her mark from an early age. At age ten, she had made her debut performance with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and a few years later, she claimed first place in the Stravinsky International Piano Competition.

Since her early success, Ms. Chung has performed with over 60 leading orchestras around the world including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, KBS Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Weimar, UNAM Philharmonic (Mexico), Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Flemish Radio Orchestra as well as all of the major Canadian orchestras. She has appeared with prestigious conductors including, Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Spivakov, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Charles Dutoit, to name a few.

As recitalist, Lucille has performed in over 30 countries. She is often invited to chamber festivals and recent appearances include the Seoul Arts Centre Orchestra Festival in Korea, Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, and the Aruba Piano Festival. She regularly performs with her husband as a member of the Bax & Chung Piano Duo.

Ms. Chung has a discography of ten titles featuring solo, concerto, and piano duo recordings. Her most recent CD, Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo, was released on the Signum label in June 2016 to high acclaim. The new disc features works by Poulenc for solo piano and she is joined by Alessio Bax for the composer's piano duo works.

Lucille graduated from both the Curtis Institute and The Juilliard School before the age of 20. She then furthered her studies in Europe at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Hochschule für Musik (Franz Liszt) Weimar and Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy, where she worked with the late Lazar Berman. The recipient of many prestigious awards, she was recently named Honorary Professor of the Jilin Arts College in China and is on the faculty of the Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas.

Lucille Chung is a Steinway Artist.

Booklet für Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo