Composer: Frédéric François Chopin
Performer: Fou Ts’ong
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Sony
Catalogue: 19439913092
Release: 2021
Size: 413 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
02. Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38
03. Ballade No. 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 47
04. Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52
05. Contredanse in G-Flat Major, B. 17
06. Cantabile in B-Flat Major, B. 84
07. Moderato in E Major, B. 151
08. Largo in E-Flat Major, op. posth.
09. Fugue in A Minor, op. posth.
10. Variations in A Major on Le Carnaval de Venise by Paganini, B. 37 “Souvenir de Paganini”
The first ever collection of Fou Ts’ong’s complete Chopin Recordings for CBS Masterworks on 10 CDs.
This special release includes full sets of the Ballades, Nocturnes, Études, Préludes, and Mazurkas, with 3 out of 10 CDs remastered from the original master tapes. The clamshell box features original LP sleeves and labels, plus a booklet with full discographical notes.
Fou Ts’ong was the first Chinese pianist to achieve international recognition. A former prize winner in the International Chopin Competition, and recipient of a special award for his interpretation of Chopin Mazurkas, Ts’Ong was a great admirer of the composer and remains best known for his Chopin.
“I feel very strongly about Chopin – I just love him,” Ts’Ong told writer Tim Stein. “But if you ask me my personal feelings about him, I wouldn’t say he is the greatest composer of all time. He is, however, the greatest ’artist’ of a composer, if you know what I mean. And in that sense, I think he appeals very much to us Orientals. There is just that incredible quality of taste and subtlety.”
Piano mavens and collectors will welcome the opportunity to experience Fou’s Sony Chopin recordings as reissued here all together for the first time.
Gramophone’s Max Harrison praised the pianist’s sensitive perception in the Polonaise-Fantaisie, and the excellent playing throughout both books of Études. “It is among the best current readings, civilized and elegant.”
Likewise, James Methuen-Campbell, author of the extensive study Chopin Playing: From the Composer to the Present Day, singled out several Nocturnes: “The visionary aspect of the C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1 is compellingly portrayed and the complicated polyphonic shifts of the E-flat, Op. 55 No. 2 come off with splendid refinement and suave pianism.”
Fou was nominated for a Grammy for most promising new classical artist in 1963 for a recording of Scarlatti’s sonatas, was a member of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition’s jury and also served on the jury of the Chopin Competition and on the jury of the Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition.
Fou died of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in England in London on 28 December 2020 at age 86.