Lili Boulanger’s solo Prelude for Piano gives us a glimpse of what she might have gone on to write, had she lived beyond the age of 24. Dated ‘Sunday 11 March 1911’ it opens with clusters of chords, harmonies which create an intense, poetic, otherworldly atmosphere.

Fauré’s Preludes, op.103, published in 1910 are by comparison relatively late works but contain some of his most startling and original piano writing, which Aaron Copland referred to elegantly as ‘intensity on a background of calm’.

Composed at the age of 20, in 1928-9, Messiaen gives each of his eight Preludes a title, accompanied by a description often including the colours Messiaen experienced in this music through his synaesthesia, and reflecting his life-long love of birdsong.

Alexandra Dariescu says “This, my final release in a trilogy, is of Parisian preludes written between 1910-1930: Boulanger’s D flat feels like the opening of a great majestic gate and introduces the listener to a whole new sound world. Fauré’s Preludes start in the same key as Boulanger left us and take us on a journey of discovering the nature: from a serious bumble bee to a spring morning, to a bird song or a storm. Messiaen follows in the footsteps of Boulanger and pushes every nuance to a completely different limit...”

Alexandra Dariescu is a young pianist who likes to do things differently. Her world tour of ‘The Nutcracker and I’, which she created, has delighted audiences and critics. Alongside this, her 2019 concert season has a focus on women composers, including Nadia Boulanger.

“There's much superb playing to enjoy: she is particularly good at creating atmosphere through her sound, which is cushioned, refined and beautifully balanced…” – BBC Music Magazine reviewing Vol.1