Emmanuelle Bertrand & Pascal Amoyel - Chopin: 1846, dernière année à Nohant (2015) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist
---------
01. Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Op. 60
02. No.1 in B Major. Vivace
03. No.2 in F Minor. Lento
04. No.3 in C Sharp Minor. Allegretto
05. I. Allegro moderato
06. II. Scherzo-Allegro con brio
07. III. Largo
08. IV. Finale-Allegro
09. No.1 in D Flat Major. Molto vivace
10. No.2 in C Sharp Minor. Tempo giusto
11. No.3 in A Flat Major. Moderato
12. Mazurka, No. 4, Op. 67
13. No.1 in B Major. Andante
14. No.2 in E Major. Lento


French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand attended the conservatories of Lyon and Paris, where she studied with Jean Deplace and Philippe Muller. She has performed as a soloist with many orchestras and ensembles in France, and appeared internationally with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. A strong advocate for new music, Bertrand has premiered works by Henri Dutilleux, Nicolas Bacri, Edith Canat de Chizy, Bernard Cavanna, Thierry Escaich, and Luciano Berio. Bertrand is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Young Soloist Award of the Victoire de la musique classique, a prize at the Rostropovich International Competition in Paris, the first prize of the Japan Chamber Music Competition, the Prix de l’Académie Internationale Maurice Ravel, and a scholarship from the Fondation d’Entreprise Natixis. Bertrand has also received the Cannes Classical Award, the Diapason d'Or, and the Choc of the Monde de la musique, and she has been honored as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Since 1999, she has performed in a duo with pianist Pascal Amoyel, and they have recorded exclusively for Harmonia Mundi.

After a relationship lasting some ten years, the last few of which were stormy, Frédéric Chopin finally separated from George Sand in July 1847. It was on her estate at Nohant that, over seven summers, he had composed or completed the core of his oeuvre: the Fantaisie Op.49, a dozen mazurkas, the Berceuse, several nocturnes, two of the ballades, two of the scherzos, his last two sonatas, the Trois Nouvelles Études, three impromptus, three waltzes, two polonaises, among others. The summer of 1846, the last he spent in the Berry region, saw the birth of his final masterpieces for it was at Nohant that he composed, started, or finished the last pieces to be printed in his lifetime: ‘miniatures’ like the Mazurkas Op.63 and the Waltzes Op.64, or pieces with a more elaborate structure such as the Barcarolle Op.60, the Nocturnes Op.62a and the Sonata for piano and cello Op.65, the final published opuses that are brought together in this programme.

Pascal Amoyel and Emmanuelle Bertrand plunge us into the heart of those few months before the couple’s separation, when the ailing Chopin did not yet know that he was leaving his musical testament.

DOWNLOAD ALBUM [Hi-Res]