Fresh from his success in Vienna with the Rondo à la Krakowiak, Chopin decided to explore the piano concerto genre where he would compete with a triumvirate of composers then enjoying huge success in the city: Moscheles, Hummel and Kalkbrenner. Dedicated to Kalkbrenner, though inheriting influence from Hummel, the Piano Concerto no.1 in E minor, op.11, is discreetly orchestrated and marries brilliant virtuosity with expressive melancholy. Structurally similar is the Piano Concerto no.2 in F minor, op.21, though here heroism is tempered by a more reflective intimacy that reaches its apotheosis in the beautiful slow movement.

Prize winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1990, Pietro De Maria is the first Italian pianist to have played Chopin’s complete piano works in six public concerts. He has recorded Chopin’s complete piano works, The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations for Decca.

Daniele Rustioni is one of the most compelling conductors of both opera and symphonic works of his generation.