CHOPIN: Ballades & Scherzi Marianna Shirinyan

• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849): Ballade No.1 in G Minor, Op.23:
• 1Chopin: Ballade No.1 in G Minor, Op.2310:03
• Ballade No.2 in F Major, Op.38:
• 2Chopin: Ballade No.2 in F Major, Op.3807:50
• Ballade No.3 in A flat Major, Op.47:
• 3Chopin: Ballade No.3 in A flat Major, Op.4707:51
• Ballade No.4 in F Minor, Op.52:
• 4Chopin: Ballade No.4 in F Minor, Op.5212:21
• Scherzo No.1 in B Minor, Op.20:
• 5Chopin: Scherzo No.1 in B Minor, Op.2011:10
• Scherzo No.2 in B flat Minor Op.31:
• 6Chopin: Scherzo No.2 in B flat Minor Op.3110:41
• Scherzo No.3 in C sharp Minor, Op.39:
• 7Chopin: Scherzo No.3 in C sharp Minor, Op.3908:00
• Scherzo No.4 in E Major, Op.54:
• 8Chopin: Scherzo No.4 in E Major, Op.5412:25
• Total Runtime01:20:21

Info for CHOPIN: Ballades & Scherzi

Renowned Armenian-born pianist Marianna Shirinyan performs some of Chopin’s most fascinating and fiendish pieces: the four Ballades and four Scherzos. Chopin coined the term ‘ballade’, harking back to medieval minstrels singing poetic ballads. His four Ballades are quite different in character, but share a sense of Romantic story-telling in their dramatic contrasts and virtuoso display. The first three of Chopin’s four Scherzos are fiery and dissonant; all four are exceptionally challenging. The Scherzo No. 1 is sometimes dubbed ‘The Infernal Banquet’ owing to its devilish character, which is juxtaposed with a central lullaby based on the Polish carol ‘Sleep, little Jesus’. Schumann regarded Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2 as Byronic in the grandeur of its passion, and the Scherzo No. 3 is also remarkably daring, with an almost Wagnerian chorale. Chopin’s Scherzo No. 4 is the only one in a major key, yet its relatively serene nature, with fluid, whimsical twists and turns, also makes it one of the most demanding to play.

Marianna Shirinyan, piano

Marianna Shirinyan
Winning five prizes at the 2006 ARD International Music Competition in Munich kickstarted the Armenian pianist Marianna Shirinyans international career as soloist and chamber musician and it has developed impressively steadily since. She is a welcome guest at a string of international festivals, among them the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, MDR Summer Music Festival, as well as Festspillene in Bergen, Stavanger and Risør International Chamber Music Festivals in Norway a.o.

Simultaneously she has won the reputation of being one of this generations leading pianists through solo appearances with such leading orchestras as the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Göteborg and Norrköping Symphony Orchestras in Sweden as well as Odense, Århus and South Jutland Symphony Orchestras in Denmark. During the season 2013-14 Marianna was Artist in residence by the Odense Symphony Orchestra.

In March 2014 Marianna was on an extensive tour in Spain together with Copenhagen Philharmonic and Lan Shui with Brahms Piano Concerto No 1.

Outside Scandinavia, she has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Potsdamer Kammerakademie, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Würzburg Philharmonic, Munich and Hamburg Chamber Orchestras the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Wuhan Philharmonic under the baton of such conductors as Hans Graf, Lawrence Foster, Zoltan Kocsis, Antonello Manacorda, Jun Märkl, Lan Shui, Thomas Søndergård, Krysztof Urbanski and Joshua Weilerstein.

Since 2004 Marianna has been teaching at the chamber music summer academy of the 'Jugend Musiziert' in Schloss Weikersheim, Germany. In addition, in the period 1998 to 2006, she held a part-time position as a teacher/coach of piano accompaniment at the Musikhochschule Lübeck in Germany. Between 1999-2003 Marianna returned regularly to the Orchestra Academy of the Schleswig Holstein Music festival as a coach for piano/chamber music. From 2003-2011 she has been a member of the Esbjerg Ensemble in Denmark. Since 2014 Marianna is teaching at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.

The Association of Danish Music Critics awarded Marianna Shirinyan their Annual Prize in 2009. In 2010 she received Danish Radio's P2 Artist Prize for her contributions to the musical and artistic life in Denmark.

During 2014 Marianna Shirinyan was jury member at two significant International Piano competitions, the ARD Music Competition in Munich and the Edvard Grieg International piano competition in Bergen/Norway.

Marianna is the artistic director of the International Chamber Music Festival “Accord Parfait” in Irancy/ France. She is Steinway Artist. Since 2015 she is professor at the Norwegian Music Academy.

Marianna has a bright discography included the solo recital “Il Viaggio”(Solo musica), Beethoven No1/ Kuhlau piano concertos together with Copenhagen Philharmonic (Orchid Classics) Mozart Piano Concertos no 12&23 with Odense Symphony Orchestra (Bridgerecords), Chopin Chamber music together with Andreas Brantelid, cello and Vilde Frang violin (EMI). All the CD’s has been received enthusiastically by international reviewers and listeners alike.

Marianna was born in Yerevan, Armenia. She commenced her musical studies at the age of seven, when she attended the Tchaikovsky music school in her home town, under the guidance of Margarita Hakobian. In 1997 she went on to study with Igor Javrian at the Komitas Music Conservatory in Yerevan. Marianna completed her studies at the Musikhochschule Lübeck with Konrad Elser in 2007, with top grades. Mariannas artistic advisers in recent years have been Elisabeth Leonskaia and Leif Ove Andsnes.

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