Canadian pianist Lucille Chung is admired for her “stylish and refined performances.” (Gramophone Magazine) She first appears as a soloist on this release with Poulenc’s...

Canadian pianist Lucille Chung is admired for her “stylish and refined performances.” (Gramophone Magazine) She first appears as a soloist on this release with Poulenc’s Improvisations, Novelettes and L’embarquement pour Cythere, before being joined by her duo partner and husband, Alessio Bax. Poulenc was not only an incredible composer, but also a virtuosic pianist. His style is characterized by color and clarity, and he is considered by many to be the finest French song composer since Faure.

-----

REVIEWS:

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.

– Gramophone

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 savor.

– Classical Ear