Seong-Jin Cho’s Chopin Competition Winning Recital Highlights On CD

Deutsche Grammophon has released a recording of highlights from the competition winning recitals of pianist Seong-Jin Cho, the 21-year-old South Korean pianist who recently claimed first place in the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition held in Warsaw. Adjudicators at this year’s competition included Martha Argerich, Philippe Entremont, Garrick Ohlsson and Yundi.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, on 28 May 1994, Seong-Jin Cho won the International Fryderyk Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in 2008 and took third prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2011. Based in Paris, Cho has performed with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors,amongst them, the Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Myung-Whun Chung, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov, and the Russian National Orchestra with Mikhail Pletnev.

Previous winners of the Chopin International Piano Competition include Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Krystian Zimerman and Yundi Li. Vladimir Ashkenazy and Mitsuko Uchida, have been competition runners-up.

“Chopin’s music tells us so much about the human condition and speaks directly to the heart. I hope that this Deutsche Grammophon recording will move all those who hear it.” – Seong-Jin Cho

The tracks:

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)

1–24 Préludes op. 28

25 Nocturne in C minor op. 48/1 

Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor op. 35: 

26 1. Grave – Doppio movimento
27 2. Scherzo
28 3. Marche funèbre – Lento
29 4. Finale. Presto

30 Polonaise in A flat major op. 53