After the recording of an earlier Chopin disc with Hidemi Suzuki, Chie Hirai decided to make a solo album with a combination of works by Chopin and Glinka. The picturesque city of Deventer and it’s lovely sounding Mennonite church was our recording venue for this project. Using her own Pleyel piano (built in Paris in 1840) Chie captured just the right sound for this project. The light but also powerful character of the instrument matches the repertoire very well.
(Recording setup – Photo made by Marcel Kroese)
(During playback session – Photo made by Marcel Kroese)
Since the Pleyel is an old lady, Hans Kramer was present the whole time to maintain and tune the instrument. For this reason (and to take out some pedal and other mechanical noises..) he took the instrument apart a couple of times per day. Here you see a detail of the interior of this beautiful instrument.
(Pleyel – Photo made by Marcel Kroese)
(Daan during the recording session – Photo made by Marcel Kroese)
The project will be released in spring 2011 by the Japanese label ‘Accustica’.
Project info:
Recording venue: Doopsgezinde Kerk, Deventer
Recording Producer: Daan van Aalst
Recording Engineer and editing: Daan van Aalst
Piano tuner: Hans Kramer (de Pianotemmer)
