concert Lionel Bringuier conducts Berlioz, Chopin, Roussel, and Ravel — With Nelson Freire BBC Proms 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall

The poet of the piano only wrote two concertos, both born of the same creative burst in 1829-30 when Chopin was no more than 20 years old. His Concerto in F Minor (called No. 2 but actually written first) overflows with Polish flair, exquisite cantabile melodies, and a sublime Larghetto that “sounds like the opening of a gate to some haven of love and peace,” in the words of the writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. Who better than Nelson Freire to convey the lyricism of this essential, archetypical masterpiece of Romanticism? The beloved Brazilian virtuoso, who sadly left us in November 2021, was one of the most acclaimed interpreters of Chopin, winning awards like the Diapason d’Or for his readings of the Polish-French composer.