Lucille Chung & Alessio Bax - Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo (2016) [Hi-Res]

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 Cythère, the Sonata for Four Hands and Concerto for Two Pianos.


'Lucille Chung s new Poulenc disc is doubly welcome. To begin with, Chung is a startlingly original pianist whose solo work, apart from discs of Scriabin and Ligeti, we ve heard too little of ... Chung captures the sense of a series of musical snapshots with the evanescent spontaneity of her playing. She is able to evoke the mercurial mood changes so characteristic of Poulenc with grace, consistently beautiful sound and an unerring sense of proportion. In succession, each seems more vivid than the last.' --Patrick Rucker Gramophone, August 2016

***** '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 Cythère. In the composer s two-piano reduction of the Concerto for Two Pianos Chung and Bax tackle a sizeable work with aplomb, ferociously attacking the outer movements and achieving a delicious romance in the glorious central one. This is a release to savour' --Evan Dickerson Classical Ear, 17th August 2016