Ballades & Other Stories

The repertoire on this recording has its roots in a series of recitals pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna gave in 2017. For a long time, he had planned to perform all four of Chopin’s ballades in a recital, yet simply to join them together as a ‘suite’ or ‘sonata’ did not feel like the right solution. Chopin hardly had this in mind either. So he began to plan a programme that would intersperse contemporary ballades or other works based on a narrative idea between the Chopin ballades. And so this fresh new album, Ballades & other stories, came to life.Erik T. Tawaststjerna is Professor Emeritus at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. He has taught a number of pianists who have recorded for Alba, for example Janne Mertanen, Risto-Matti Marin, Tuula Hällström, Katriina Korte and Emil Holmström.