DESCRIPTION:
Excerpts from
Leoš Janáček’s piano sonata 1. X. 1905
I. Presentiment
II. Death

Haochen Zhang, piano

In 2009, at the age of 19, Haochen Zhang became the youngest ever Gold Medalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Since then he has had a busy concert schedule, primarily in his native China and in the U.S.A. but also in Europe where he made his début at the BBC Proms in 2014. Recording has been less of a priority for Zhang, and it is only now that he releases his first studio album, recorded at the Reitstadel, the well-known audiophile venue in Neumarkt in Germany.

For his recital, Haochen Zhang has devised a programme made up of works that he feels particularly close to, consisting of Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Liszt’s Ballade No. 2 in B minor, Janáček’s piano sonata 1. X. 1905 and Brahms’s Drei Intermezzi, Op. 117. The disc is available from BIS Records (BIS-2238) as a Hybrid SACD with surround sound option, and from leading download providers, starting February 2017.