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This new release from prize-winning Russian pianist Anna Geniushene explores the early creativity of the great Romantic composers Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Berg and Tchaikovsky, revealing the ambition, curiosity and individuality that shaped their musical identities.

‘The title Opus 1 carries profound significance. It represents a beginning, an assertion of identity, and the boundless potential of creativity. For some composers, an Opus 1 was a carefully chosen first statement; for others, it was simply the first work they deemed worthy of publication. Regardless of intention, each of these pieces marks a moment when a composer stepped forward and said, “This is where my journey begins.”’ – Anna Geniushene, pianist

Anna Geniushene

‘Opus 1’ does not necessarily indicate the first ever piece written by the composer, but rather the first published work. The works featured on Anna Geniushene’s new album are interesting in that they all contain fascinating pre-echoes of the composers’ later music, as well as highlighting the diversity, originality and future maturity of these composers.

Chopin composed his Rondo in C Minor when he was just fifteen. This sparkling work is a vibrant opening for this album – a piece that already bears all the hallmarks of his mature style – virtuosity, expression and an unmistakable lyricism – yet feels that it owes more to the bravura tradition of early nineteenth-century pianism.

“My first published piece was Scherzo à la russe, Op. 1″ so wrote Tchaikovsky in a letter to Nadezha von Meck, in 1879. Dedicated to the great pianist Nikolai Rubinstein (who famously rejected Tchaikovsky’s first Piano Concerto as unplayable), the Scherzo a la russe and Impromptu in E-flat minor both show hints of the composer’s later style, particularly that of the Nutcracker ballet score. Tchaikovsky composed his Opus 1 when he was a young professor at the Moscow Conservatory and still finding his compositional voice.

The Scherzo, based on a Ukrainian song which the composer heard from the gardeners at Kamenka, the home of his sister, begins innocently enough, with a naive melody, played with a delightful simplicity by Geniushene, before moving into a warm, chorale-like section. The Impromptu, meanwhile, marked ‘Allegro Furioso’, opens with an excitable gallop, cast in unremitting quaver triplets, which gives way to an arresting, Chopin-esque middle section played with great expression and beauty of tone.

Schumann composed his ‘Abegg Variations‘ when he was 18. Despite its opus number, this work was neither Schumann’s first, nor his first set of variations. With its ‘letter-to-pitch’ derivations, the music prefigures ‘Carnaval’, and the later fugues on the name BACH, and showcases Schumann’s distinctive contrasting musical voice or rather “voices” – from lyrical grace to sudden dramatic outbursts, all infused with a poetic sensibility that came to define his music. Here, each variation is executed with delicacy of touch, a mellifluous, romantic tone, and sparkling flourishes coupled with a sensitive appreciation of Schumann’s contrasting moods.

The romanticism of Schumann is followed by Alban Berg’s single-movement Sonata. Composed in 1907-08 under the guidance of Arnold Schoenberg, the work is tightly constructed with a continuously unfolding narrative arc. Though written at the beginning of Berg’s career, this work sees Berg pushing towards the atonality, expressive depth and structural complexity that would come to define his later works, and the Sonata is deftly handled by Geniushene, bringing dramatic intensity and lyricism to this haunting piece.

While Berg’s compositional voice may not be fully formed in his Sonata, Brahms’s Sonata in C Major, Op. 1 is a work of towering ambition. Although it was not the first piece he composed, it was the first he chose to publish, signalling his arrival as a composer of serious intent. Completed in 1853, when Brahms was just twenty, the sonata was written at a time when he had recently made a profound impression on Robert and Clara Schumann—an encounter that would shape his early career.

Grand in scope, rooted in the German tradition of Beethoven and Schumann, the Sonata opens with a thrilling opening gesture reminiscent of Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata, offset by a tender second theme, which prefigures the composer’s later writing for the piano. The slow movement is tender and songful, the Scherzo all Beethovenian swagger and rhythmic vitality, while the Finale reprises the ‘Hammerklavier’ idea in a dancing Rondo theme with contrasting episodes. Here, Geniushene moves seamlessly between power and resolution, warmth and lyricism.

‘To perform these works is to engage with the raw energy of creation itself, to stand at the threshold of something new and full of possibility. This album is not just a collection of early works—it is a celebration of the act of beginning, a reminder that every great artistic journey starts with a first single step.’ – Anna Geniushene

This impressive release from Anna Geniushene offers fascinating insights into the early work of these great composers and demonstrates how their early creativity set them on a path of greatness, each with a distinctive and individual musical voice.

Opus 1 is available now on the Fuga Libera label.

Meet the Artist interview with Anna Geniushene

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When the first notes of Chopin sound through the concert hall there is a happy sign of recognition. All over the world men and women know his music. They love it. They are moved by it. When I play Chopin I know I speak directly to the hearts of people.

Arthur Rubinstein

Virtuosic, imaginative, and emotionally profound, Chopin’s music offers pianists a wealth of expressivity, requiring a combination of superior technique, which always serves the music (rather than as an end in itself), refined touch, a beautiful cantabile (singing) tone, highly nuanced dynamic shading, supple phrasing and rubato, and an appreciation of the interior architecture of this multi-layered music. Chopin is also symbolic of Poland, the country of his birth, whose musical idioms are evident in almost all his music, most obviously, the Mazurkas and Polonaises.

When asked, the great Chopin player Arthur Rubinstein could not explain why Chopin’s music spoke to him, but like the music of J.S. Bach (which Chopin greatly admired and studied), it expresses universal humanity which, combined with a certain vulnerability, speaks to so many of us, and on many different levels.

An unrivalled authority and one of the greatest interpreters of the music of Chopin, Rubinstein brought great dignity and refinement to the music, avoided unnecessary mannerisms and sentimentality, and revealed the structural logic of Chopin’s writing. His playing is memorable for its elegant vocal phrasing, beauty of tone, and natural yet sophisticated shaping.

Arthur Rubinstein Plays Chopin’s Polonaise in A Flat Major, Op.53

“A master of the keyboard” (Harold C Schonberg), Dinu Lipatti was the pupil of an older Chopin master, Alfred Cortot.

Lipatti’s immaculate performances of the waltzes, in particular, are spontaneous, light and nimble, lyrical and suitably dancing, with subtle rubato and great charm.

“It’s very inner music and very deep,” Maria João Pires has said of Chopin. For her, he is “the deep poet of music”. That depth is really evident in Pires’ playing of the Nocturnes: intimate, refined and passionate, her interpretations eschew drawing room night-time sentimentality and capture all the drama and emotional intensity of these much-loved pieces.

Described by one critic as “the greatest Chopin player to have emerged from Italy since the Second World War”, Maurizio Pollini’s association with Chopin goes right back to the beginning of his professional career when he won the Chopin Competition in Warsaw when he was just 18. His unsentimental, cultivated interpretations are notable for their clarity of expression, perfectly judged poetry, and close attention to the bel canto melodic lines which make Chopin’s music so immediately appealing.

Alfred Cortot is one of the most celebrated Chopin interpreters, combining flawless technique with a deep appreciation of the structure, voicing, and textures of Chopin’s music. His recordings are acclaimed to this day, and his detailed, annotated editions of Chopin’s music remain highly prized among pianists and teachers.

Hailed by her mentor Arthur Rubinstein as “a born Chopin interpreter”, Polish-Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska captures the soul of Chopin, in particular in her performances of the Mazurkas, works which reveal Chopin’s patriotism and innermost sentiments towards his homeland. Fialkowska is sensitive to both the humble, peasant origins of the Mazurka and Chopin’s elevation of the genre into concert pieces. She really captures the poetry, poignancy, and whimsical emotions of these Polish folk dances, and her rubato is perfectly judged, especially important in these pieces where suppleness of pace lends greater emphasis to the emotional depth of the music.

An earlier version of this article appeared on the InterludeHK website

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A Senior Lecturer in Piano at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire says she’s “delighted” that a new work of music by Frédéric Chopin has been unearthed nearly 200 years after it was written.

The unknown waltz has been dated between 1830-1835 and was found in New York.

Pianist Katharine Lam says it’s an exciting opportunity for generations of Chopin’s fans to hear new music from the Polish composer centuries after his death.

“It’s a noteworthy and precious find, as several waltzes that Chopin original wrote are believed to have been entirely lost or destroyed,” said Ms Lam. “Finding lost works of any great composer reminds us of their unique, musical fingerprint and gives us, no matter how small of fleeting, a fresh and treasured glimpse of their voice and genius.

Like any artist, or even a popstar putting out a new single, it’s really exciting to experience hearing a piece of music for the first time, especially one that you never expected.

In a mere 80 seconds, the waltz captures the listener with Chopin’s beloved and haunting gift for melody, his distinctive harmonies and the opening turbulent outburst which points to the drama and passion infused through so much of his work.”

Listen to Lang Lang playing the waltz here

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To coincide with the release of her new album ‘Chopin: Voyage’, Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva talks about her life in music, balancing one’s artistic needs with the external pressures of a professional career, and how inspiration “can be found anywhere”.….

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?

In my childhood I was surrounded by music. Although my parents are not professional musicians, they were great music lovers and had an upright piano at home, as well as a solid LP collection. At some point they realized that I was trying to play a melody that I had just heard with one finger on the piano, and took me to the Gnessin Special Music School. When I was 5 years old I entered the piano class of Elena Ivanova, with whom I studied for 13 years, until my graduation, and who became a family member for me. Thanks to her amazing admiration and approach to music, I was able to discover this magical world for me as well. However, the moment I remember so well, which was crucial to me, was my first public performance, when I was 6. I was supposed to play 2 Tchaikowsky pieces from his Children‘s album, and my parents and teacher were explaining that I shouldn‘t be scared by the light and people and the audience and should be concentrating on the music I’d play for them. I was not scared at all; on the contrary, I enjoyed very much communicating with the audience through the language of music! And I wished to perform again. So the solution for how to stay motivated for practice was found! I keep that feeling until today and am so grateful to be able to speak this universal language with people all over the world.  

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

I think the greatest challenge is to find out what your mental and physical needs are in order to achieve the most satisfying artistic result. This result depends on many factors, which I had to recognize and acknowledge in my preparation work as well as in my stage performance. Time management is one of the most essential elements; it means that I must know how I should organize my practice, so that I give each piece I perform enough space not only in my daily practice but also in my soul, since I need to “live” with a piece for a while so that it becomes, in a way, my co-creation. On the other hand, I have to know my limits — for instance, if I have a very tight schedule, how many programmes can I really handle? And does it make sense, artistically? My personal goal is to be in the best shape when I walk onstage, and it is probably a never-ending process to understand myself.

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of? 

It is always very difficult for me to listen to my own recordings or the recordings of my own concerts. I almost always think, “Oh, now I would play that completely differently!”. This is the charm and challenge of music — it exists only in the moment when it is being performed, and it is not easy to capture this moment on any recording. So I very rarely listen to my own performances — with some exceptions, of course. For example, it is an amazing inspiration and joy to work with Bernhard Guettler, the sound producer I have worked with for my latest two recordings — Resilience, and Voyage, my new Chopin album, on the Pentatone label, featuring his late works, which has just been released. This particular recording experience was absolutely unique for me for two essential reasons: the location and the instrument. I was so lucky to make this recording at the one and only Tippet Rise Arts Center, in Fishtail, Montana, surrounded by nature and a wonderful team. And on top of that, I played the music on Vladimir Horowitz’s personal piano, which has an exceptionally long and warm sound that opens up like a flower.

When I first touched this piano in September 2022 at the TIppet Rise Arts Center, my first thought was, “This piano is my dream partner for Chopin’s music!”. So I am very thankful to Peter and Cathy Halstead and the entire team at Tippet Rise Arts Center for their most kind support; Mike Toya for his amazing care of the piano; Bernhard Guettler for his patience and his unlimited desire to explore the sound worlds; and the Pentatone team for bringing this recording to life.

Which particular works/composers do you think you perform best?

The moment I decide to play any piece, it becomes “the best and dearest piece” for me, otherwise I will not be able to find an authentic approach to it. Nevertheless, of course there are composers I admire so much, since they have an enormous emotional impact on me, such as Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Bartok, to name just a few. A great discovery for me was Bernstein’s Second Symphony, “Age of anxiety,” in which the piano has a very important solo-like part. It was an exciting process to prepare this unique work, based on Auden’s poem, and I am so lucky to have performed it a couple of times in Spain and Italy and finally to play it in the United States with the Minnesota Orchestra and Robert Trevino on October 18th and 19th, 2024!

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

The piano repertoire is just limitless, which is the pianist’s curse and blessing! My personal list of pieces I would love to play is getting longer every year, so I have to make decisions about what I would like to play next. Sometimes it takes a long while to decide on a recital programme; for me it is important that there is a certain concept, or at least a connecting idea between the pieces. The programme I am performing at Carnegie Hall on October 22, 2024 is a Chopin and Liszt recital. They were the two giants of the Romantic era, both unique performers, and both were trying out the most extreme ways of expression on the piano, even if they were moving on very different paths.

Next year I will be performing Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, op 87, which for me is one the greatest cycles for piano of all time. It was inspired by Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, which I will be playing in 2027. These cycles require my entire concentration in the preparation. At the same time, for next year I also prepared a programme that connects two composers you wouldn’t expect to see together — Chopin and Shostakovich. But Shostakovich was a participant at the first Chopin Competition, in 1927, in Warsaw, and he played Chopin a lot in his younger years. So it is always kind of a work of investigation to create a recital programme.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

There are many; I could not pick only one. Some of the halls are very inspiring because of their history and the musicians who have performed there — like Carnegie Hall, or the Musikverein in Vienna, but also some modern halls are amazing because of their acoustics and atmosphere — for example, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, or Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. 

What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?

I am convinced that inspiration can be found anywhere — it can be a color from the sky or of the leaves on a tree; it can be a conversation, or a great book, or even a smell — like the smell of the air in the autumn, or the aroma of a fantastic meal. I just have to be very open to be able to absorb it.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

It is difficult to say. In every concert I share a part of my soul, and my soul in turn keeps the memories of each single concert. And, as I mentioned, the music exists only in a moment when it is being performed and cannot be repeated — that is why each concert experience, even with the same repertoire, is always different.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

Artistic success for me is probably when I am able to present an interpretation of a piece which on the one hand comes as close as possible to the composer’s will — though this criteria is very subjective — so, on the other hand, it is about my personal feelings about the music, which should be very strong and authentic. And the message of the music I perform should be acceptable for the audience, otherwise I have failed to translate the music score into human feelings. 

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

It is essential to give access to music to the youngest. That can be through playing an instrument, singing, dancing, or any other kind of musical activity, because music also helps children to feel and articulate the emotions they experience. This is what makes human beings unique and irreplaceable. Later on, children who have been exposed to these experiences will decide whether they want to play or sing for their family, or go to concerts, or become a professional musician. Maybe they will not have any interest in it at all. But our goal should be to give them a chance to explore this magical world of music.

What advice would you give to young or aspiring musicians?

I would like to encourage young musicians to think, before they go on stage, about how lucky we are to be able to speak the language of music and share our passion with the audience. And it does not matter if their audience is big or small, or if it is a concert, an exam, or a competition — it is only music, which matters for the performer, and we should only focus on it. I am wishing you a long, happy life, full of wonderful sounds! 

Yulianna Avdeeva performs music by Chopin and Liszt at Carnegie Hall, New York, on 22nd October. Find out more here

Yulianna Avdeeva’s new recording ‘Chopin: Voyage’ is available now on the Pentatone label.

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