For Charles Richard-Hamelin, recording Frédéric Chopin’s two Concertos for piano and orchestra was self-evident, but it came with very high expectations to live up to, given his silver medal from the Chopin competition that launched him internationally. In front of an audience in the fall of 2018, Richard-Hamelin distinguished himself with the excellence of his playing and the relationship established with the OSM under the direction of Kent Nagano. The silky, sober and relatively discreet accompaniment of the orchestra allowed the soloist to shine, making for a magnificent work which compares most favourably with previous important recordings of these two concertos.
