The musical equivalent of the short story or novella, this recording sets the Four Ballades by Chopin alongside those of Brahms. Robert Schumann wrote with infallible clairvoyance of two 20 year-old artists whose pre-eminence he had foreseen. Schumann, critic and composer, was the dedicatee of Chopin’s Second Ballade, and he read, whilst in the asylum at Endenich, the score of Brahms’ newly composed Op. 10. Published over a period of ten years under independent opus numbers, Chopin's Four Ballades Opp. 23, 38, 47 and 52 form a coherent but divisible entity, like his four Scherzos. Composed in a single burst of creativity and assembled under a single unifying opus number, Brahms' Op.10 make up what might be described as a 'ballade sonata'.

The year 2005 marked a turning point in the career of Cédric Tiberghien when he was chosen to be a BBC New Generation Artist. He has received excellent press for his previous recitals.