Record label ReachSound.Art in cooperation with French label Calliope have prepared for the release a new release by Alexander Boldachev "Frédéric". The album will be released on world music venues in October. Especially for the release of the album, we recorded a video conversation with Alexander dedicated to his work, the new album, living in Switzerland and how Alexander initiated and conducted the Ab Aeterno (From Eternity) charitable action by the routes of minstrels and meistersingers during the pandemic.

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“Some time after the recording of the disc, staying at the Georges Sand Hotel, which is located in the small village of Gargilesse, I looked around and realized that I had done everything right - the harp perfectly complements the worlds surrounding Chopin and his contemporaries”

2019 and 2020 became Chopin's jubilee years (1810-1849) and it is symbolic that the disc was recorded in 2019 and will be released in 2020, on the day of Chopin's death - October 17th.

This is the first full-length disc of Chopin's work, transcribed on the harp. Although the word transcription is not needed here, since Alexander Boldachev preserved almost the entire original text, allowing only rare changes. The only piece actually transcribed on the harp was Fantasia-Impromptu, which was processed by Wilhelm Posse, who was born three years after Chopin's death. This is one of the most virtuoso pieces performed on the harp.

The disc itself is dedicated not only to the new sound of Chopin's works, the expansion of the repertoire of the harp and the declaration of its capabilities, but also to the life of the author, his experiences and the unique touch of the piano, which contemporaries occasionally described as plucking the strings of the harp. For example, Schumann called Chopin's etude in A-flat major - Aeolian harp.

“One of the main characters who gave me the obsession to record Chopin on the harp was Georges Sand. Her house in Noan-Vic still keeps within its walls the Erard harp, which Georges played at one time. Inspired by their complex love story, I began to try one piece after another, going through all possible archives and the final version of the disc - the quintessence of the most interesting and colorfully sounding pieces on the harp. A small scattering of Chopin's diamonds. "

The disc consists of 16 pieces, including Etudes, Mazurkas, Nocturnes, Waltzes, Preludes and Impromptu Fantasy. Polish dance rhythms, French salons, suffering and joy - Alexander tried to cover the entire spectrum of Chopin's worlds and convey them through the most natural and varied instrument - the harp.

“I hope that this disc will give people the opportunity to hear familiar melodies in a new way or give motivation to turn their attention to Chopin's work for the first time. That through the harp I was able to convey that complex, intricate and, in some places, piercing love that connected Chopin with music. "

Alexander Boldachev.

Album track list:

1. Etude in A-flat major Op. 25No. 11836

2. Nocturne in C# minor Op. posth.No. 201830

3. Mazurka in C major Op. 24No. 21833

4. Mazurka in G minor Op. 24No. 11833

5. Waltz in F minor Op. 70No. 21842

6. Mazurka in C major Op. 68No. 11830

7. Mazurka in A minor Op. 68No. 21827

8. Mazurka in F major Op. 68No. 31830

9. Mazurka in F Minor Op. 63No.21846

10.Mazurka in C major Op. 56No. 21843-44

11. Prelude in B Minor Op. 28No. 61838-39

12. Nocturne in E minor Op. posth.No. 11827

13. Waltz in B minor Op. 69No. 21829

14. Prelude in E minor Op. 28No. 41838-39

15. Fantaisie-Impromptu Op. posth.1834

16. Prelude in D flat major Op. 28No. 151838-39

The recording was made at the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in November 2018