Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol. 8 Louis Lortie & Truls Mørk

• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849): Introduction & Polonaise brillante in C Major, Op. 3, B. 41:
• 1 Chopin: Introduction & Polonaise brillante in C Major, Op. 3, B. 41: I. Introduction 03:08
• 2 Chopin: Introduction & Polonaise brillante in C Major, Op. 3, B. 41: II. Polonaise brillante 06:07
• Rondo in C Minor, Op. 1 B. 10:
• 3 Chopin: Rondo in C Minor, Op. 1 B. 10 08:00
• Variations brillantes, Op. 12, B. 80:
• 4 Chopin: Variations brillantes, Op. 12, B. 80: Introduction. Allegro maestoso 01:24
• 5 Chopin: Variations brillantes, Op. 12, B. 80: Theme. Allegro moderato 00:56
• 6 Chopin: Variations brillantes, Op. 12, B. 80: Var. 1 00:52
• 7 Chopin: Variations brillantes, Op. 12, B. 80: Var. 2, Scherzo 00:56
• 8 Chopin: Variations brillantes, Op. 12, B. 80: Var. 3, Lento 01:50
• 9 Chopin: Variations brillantes, Op. 12, B. 80: Var. 4, Scherzo vivace 01:58
• Mazurkas, Op. 50, B. 145:
• 10 Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 50, B. 145: No. 1 in G Major. Vivace 02:29
• 11 Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 50, B. 145: No. 2 in A-Flat Major. Allegretto 02:51
• 12 Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 50, B. 145: No. 3 in C-Sharp Minor. Moderato 05:02
• Mazurkas, Op. 56, B. 153:
• 13 Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 56, B. 153: No. 1 in B Major. Allegro non tanto 04:13
• 14 Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 56, B. 153: No. 2 in C Major. Vivace 01:54
• 15 Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 56, B. 153: No. 3 in C Minor. Moderato 05:25
• Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65, B. 160:
• 16 Chopin: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65, B. 160: I. Allegro moderato 16:47
• 17 Chopin: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65, B. 160: II. Scherzo 04:58
• 18 Chopin: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65, B. 160: III. Largo 03:47
• 19 Chopin: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65, B. 160: IV. Finale. Allegro 06:36
• Total Runtime 01:19:13

Info for Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol. 8

Louis Lortie’s programme for this eighth and final volume of Chopin spans the composer’s entire career, from the teenage Rondo, Op. 1 through to his final published piece, the Cello Sonata, Op. 65. Inspired by a visit to the estate of Prince Antoni Radziwiłł in 1829, the Introduction and Polonaise brillante, Op. 3 was written for the prince (a keen cellist) and his pianist daughter Wanda, and was published in 1831 in Vienna, shortly before Chopin’s move to Paris. Variations brillantes, Op. 12 was based on the theme ‘Je vends des Scapulaires’ from the (now long-forgotten) opera Ludovic. Single-handedly responsible for establishing the popularity of the mazurka, Chopin wrote almost sixty of these works in his lifetime.

The two sets here date from 1842 (Op. 50) and 1844 (Op. 56) whilst the composer was at the height of his powers – and popularity in the salons of Paris. Chopin struggled with the composition of the Cello Sonata, taking two years, from 1845 to 1847, before finally premièring it at his last public concert, in Paris, on 16 February 1848. He was striving to find a ‘new style’ in his composition, whilst at the same time struggling under failing health and the breakdown of his long-standing relationship with the novelist George Sand. His perseverance paid off, and the sonata remains a cornerstone of the repertoire.

Louis Lortie, piano
Truls Mørk, cello

Louis Lortie
has earned an international reputation as a versatile musician critically acclaimed for the fresh perspective and individuality he brings to the grand masters of the piano repertoire. In demand on five continents for more than thirty years, Louis Lortie performs with the most prestigious orchestras and in major concert halls around the world. A prolific artist, he has produced more than 45 recordings for Chandos Records featuring the pillars of piano literature. He is followed by more than 300,000 listeners monthly on streaming platforms and generated more than 6 million streams in 2022.

In Great Britain, his long-standing relationship with the BBC, the BBC Symphony and BBC Philharmonic orchestras have resulted in numerous recordings and concerts as well than more than ten invitations at the BBC Proms. In his native Canada, for half a century, he has regularly played with all the major orchestras: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary. Close collaborator of Kurt Masur, he was a regular soloist with the Orchestre National de France and the Gewandhaus orchestra during his tenure as Music Director. He has also collaborated with the Deutsche Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig MDR Orchestra in Germany and the United States, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony , San Diego Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony. Further afield, his collaborations include the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra where he was Artist in Residence, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, as well as the Adelaide and Sydney Symphony Orchestras and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil. Regular partnerships with chefs include, among others, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Edward Gardner, Sir Andrew Davis, Jaap Van Zweden, Simone Young, Antoni Wit and Thierry Fischer.

In recital and in chamber music, Louis Lortie regularly performs at Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Hall, the Beethovenfest Bonn and the Liszt Festival Raiding. He is particularly sought after for his integral of the Years of Pilgrimage of Liszt in one evening, the Etudes of Chopins (complete) in one evening, or his cycles of Beethoven sonatas; the latest one was filmed at the Salle Bourgie in Montreal and broadcast on Medici TV in 2021. For more than twenty years, with Hélène Mercier, the Lortie-Mercier duo has brought new perspectives on the repertoire for four hands and two pianos in concert as well as their numerous recordings.

His discography, exclusively for Chandos records, includes, in the solo piano repertoire, 7 volumes of works by Chopin, Beethoven’s 32 sonatas, the complete works of Ravel, Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage and two volumes of works by Faure. With Edward Gardner he recorded Lutoslawksi’s Concerto and Variations on a Theme of Paganini with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, particularly praised by critics, as well as the complete concertos of Saint-Saens with the Orchester Philharmonique de la BBC or the Vaughan Williams concerto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Peter Oundjian.

Louis Lortie is co-founder and Artistic Director of the LacMus Festival, which has been held yearly since 2017 on Lake Como. He was master in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels from 2017 to 2022; he continues to mentor pianists of exceptional talent by introducing the new generation through concert cycles, recently a cycle of Beethoven/Liszt symphonies at Wigmore Hall and the Dresden International Festival as well as the Scriabin Marathon at the LacMus and Bolzano Bozen Festivals .

Louis Lortie made his debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the age of thirteen, and in 1984 won the first prize of the Busoni competition and the fourth prize of the Leeds Competition. He studied with Yvonne Hubert (herself a student of the legendary Alfred Cortot ) and with Dieter Weber in Vienna, and then with Leon Fleisher. He was honoured with the title of “Officer of the Order of Canada” in 1992, and “Chevalier Ordre national du Québec” in 1997, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Laval the same year.

Truls Mørk
Truls's compelling performances, combining fierce intensity, integrity and grace, have established him as one of the pre-eminent cellists of our time.

Truls Mørk is a celebrated artist who performs with the most distinguished orchestras including Orchestre de Paris, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Concertgebouworkest, Münchner Philharmoniker, Philharmonia and London Philharmonic orchestras, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. In North America he has appeared with New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia and The Cleveland orchestras, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor collaborations include Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Zinman, Manfred Honeck, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Christoph Eschenbach, amongst others.

The 2025/26 season sees Truls Mørk open the season of the Dresden Philharmonic season under the baton of Tabita Berglund. He continues his collaboration with Berglund in a return to the Deutsches Symfonie-Orchester Berlin. Other returns this season include Rotterdam, Oslo, and Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestras, Orchestre de Paris, NDR Hannover, Belgian National Orchestra, and the Gothenburg, Bamberg, Stavanger and Finnish Radio Symphony orchestras.

A great champion of contemporary music, Truls Mørk has given in excess of 30 premieres. He has also given highly successful performances of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto, conducted by the composer at the Royal Festival Hall, Lincoln Center and Festival d’Aix en Provence. In collaboration with Klaus Mäkelä, he performed the Salonen Cello Concerto with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Other commissions include Victoria Borisova-Ollas’ cello concerto Oh Giselle, Remember Me, Rautavaara’s Towards the Horizon with BBC Symphony Orchestra and John Storgårds, Pavel Haas’ Cello Concerto with Wiener Philharmoniker and Jonathan Nott, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Concerto for Three Cellos with NHK Symphony Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, Hafliði Hallgrímsson’s Cello Concerto, co-commissioned by Oslo Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony and Scottish Chamber orchestras.

With an impressive recording output, Truls Mørk has recorded many of the great cello concertos for labels such as Virgin Classics, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Ondine, Arte Nova and Chandos many of which have won international awards including Gramophone, Grammy, Midem and ECHO Klassik awards. These include Dvořák’s Concerto (Mariss Jansons/​Oslo Philharmonic), Britten’s Cello Symphony and Elgar’s Concerto (Sir Simon Rattle/​CBSO), Miaskovsky’s Concerto and Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante (Paavo Järvi/​CBSO), Dutilleux (Myung-Whun Chung/​Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France), CPE Bach (Bernard Labadie/​Les Violons du Roy), Haydn’s Concertos (Iona Brown/​Norwegian Chamber Orchestra), Rautavaara’s Towards the Horizon (John Storgårds/​Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra) as well as the complete Bach Cello Suites and Britten Cello Suites. Later recordings include Shostakovich’s Concertos with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/​Vasily Petrenko, works for cello and orchestra by Massenet with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/​Neeme Järvi and the Saint-Saëns Concertos together with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra/​Neeme Järvi. His most recent recording features the sonatas by Bridge, Britten and Debussy performed with Håvard Gimse and released on Alpha Classics.

Initially taught by his father, Truls Mørk continued his studies with Frans Helmerson, Heinrich Schiff and Natalia Schakowskaya. In his early career, he won a number of competitions such as the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition (1982), Cassado Cello Competition in Florence (1983), the Unesco Prize at the European Radio-Union competition in Bratislava (1983) and the Naumberg Competition in New York (1986).

Booklet for Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol. 8