Chopin: Ballades, Berceuse, Mazurkas

Yundi, the Chinese dazzling pianist acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal for his - poetic depth and patrician elegance - continues his award-winning exploration of the works of Chopin with a new recording of the Ballades, and by embarking on a major international tour. If precedent is a guide, both are expected to cause massive excitement among his fans.

For his new all-Chopin recording, Yundi performs the Opus 17 set of four Mazurkas, the Berceuse (Op 57), and all four Ballades. The latter works were composed between 1831 and 1842, and contain some of the composers most operatic writing, as well as his most challenging technical demands.

With his forensic, lyrical poeticism underpinned by a phenomenal technique, Yundi has become one of the most admired performers of Chopin in recent years. In 2000, he was he the first Chinese performer ever to win the prestigious Chopin Competition. He was also (at eighteen) the youngest winner in the history of the event, and the first player in fifteen years to be granted first prize. In 2015 Yundi accepted the great honour of returning to the competition in the capacity of an adjudicator (becoming the youngest judge in the competitions history) alongside other luminaries of the keyboard world including Martha Argerich, Dmitri Alexeev and Garrick Ohlsson.