(2026) Gioia
Category(ies): Concerto Orchestra Piano
Instrument(s): Piano
Main Composer: Various composers (see collections)
Orchestra: Orchestre de Chambre Fribourgeois
Conductor: Gábor Takács-Nagy
CD set: 1
Catalog N°:
CD 3116
Release: 11.09.2026
EAN/UPC: 7619931311623
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VAT included for Switzerland & UE
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This album is now on repressing. Pre-order it at a special price now.
CHF 18.50
This album is no longer available on CD.
This album has not been released yet.
Pre-order it at a special price now.
CHF 18.50
This album is no longer available on CD.
CHF 18.50
This album is no longer available on CD.
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GIOIA
FRIBOURG – LEIPZIG – COPENHAGEN : THE NORTH AND ITS CHILDLIKE FRESHNESS
No bicycle journey this time – unlike Duende in 2020 (which took Teo Gheorghiu to the Spain of Albéniz and the France of Debussy – Claves CD 3021), or Roots two years later (in search of paternal roots through the music of Enescu, Bartók and Mussorgsky – CD 3052). Instead, a third cardinal point guides this new discographic voyage: the North. First, the nearby Fribourg of Olivier Lattion – also Gheorghiu’s home since 2018. Then, Romantic Germany – embodied by Robert Schumann. Finally, the “true” North – of fjords and northern lights – through Edvard Grieg. At the close of the 19th century, Grieg – as a Norwegian – was seeking his own voice among the nations of Europe, and did not hesitate to sharpen it by drawing on the musical wells of the Old Continent (studying in Leipzig under Carl Reinecke and Ignaz Moscheles). A shifting thread, then – but one that, beyond geography, tells stories: of Teo Gheorghiu’s intimate bond with each of the three works on this album – stories of life, friendship, and (inevitably!) nature.
Fribourg is the alpha and the omega of this adventure. It was in the city of the Zähringen dynasty that Teo Gheorghiu first encountered Olivier Lattion’s music – through his daughter Gioia, who attended the same school as the composer’s son : a childhood connection, how symbolic ! – but it was in Fribourg’s Equilibre Hall on 30 January 2025 that the foundation of this album was laid : Grieg’s A minor Piano Concerto, marking his long-awaited meeting with Gábor Takács-Nagy – a conductor he has long admired, both through recordings of the famed Takács Quartet and through the maestro’s masterclasses in Verbier – and whose “youthful spirit” and “ability to touch everyone through the passionate, intense radiance of his baton” Gheorghiu cherishes. “A live recording is always a challenge,” he confides. “You can’t predict whether it will work. It might have failed – and we’d have found another launchpad for the album. But the stars aligned perfectly. I even feel the Fribourg Chamber Orchestra – which I’ve come to know better since taking over as head of the Fribourg Concert Society in 2023 – has never played so well! Especially welcome for a work as frequently recorded as Grieg’s Concerto: I believe we’ve succeeded in giving it a freshness and spontaneity that’s rather rare.”
The next step was to extend the magic – particularly that of the live performance – without resorting to the same “all-or-nothing” single-take gamble. In May 2025, the pianist and his recording team travelled to the Toggenburg region of St. Gallen to discover a brand-new musical space: the Klanghaus (literally “House of Sound”) in Unterwasser. A timeless wooden vessel nestled in breathtakingly pristine nature – lake and gently rolling wooded hills – it was the ideal setting for an artist who thrives on feeling pure air on his skin and grass beneath his feet between intense recording sessions. It was love at first sight – and the date was set to immortalise the two solo piano works on this “Nordic” album: July of that same year. Teo Gheorghiu had the brilliant idea of inviting family and friends to join him for the final, complete takes – those pivotal moments when tension eases, and the essence of what will be kept often emerges: the arc of breath that holds everything together. “It was the first time my family witnessed these very special moments – and I find that deeply symbolic. My little Gioia lies at the heart of this new project: her youth echoes Schumann’s Scenes, her childhood games led me to Olivier Lattion and enabled me to feel close to the deep spirituality of his music … and also because her presence in my life meant, for the first time in a long while, I didn’t hop on my bike to reach the destinations of my album!”
Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15, was composed in 1838. “Before Mussorgsky (Childhood Memories, Childish Joke), and before Bizet (Jeux d’enfants) or Debussy (Children’s Corner), Schumann speaks of children … to adults,” wrote Jean Gallois in the liner notes of a previous Claves album (CD 2601-02). Indeed, the composer had in mind scenes of children, not scenes for children: though the work does not demand the same unleashed virtuosity as the Kreisleriana, written at the same time, “the cycle calls for delicacy, attention to detail, and natural expression – a real challenge even for the most seasoned performers” (Jonas Pulver). Schumann clearly follows in the footsteps of Johann Sebastian Bach and his Klavierbüchlein, designed for learning through play. He wrote to Clara: “Is this an answer to what you once wrote – that I sometimes struck you as childlike? You will see that this child has grown wings, for I have written around thirty curious little pieces, of which I have selected a dozen – calling them Kinderszenen. You will enjoy playing them – but you must forget you are a virtuoso.”
Olivier Lattion’s À l’unisson du Ciel for solo piano, created by the composer on 18 August 2016 at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, is presented here in his own words: “For me – and probably for any composer who experiences some form of spirituality – the act of creation is not as solitary as it may seem. When I revisit one of my pieces months or years after writing it, I sometimes feel I am not its sole author – that it is, in fact, impossible for me to be its only author! To be ‘in unison with Heaven’ therefore means being connected to that source which overlays my existing capacities – technique, knowledge, sensitivity, and so on – with an extra layer of transcendence, one that can only come from a far higher creative energy … I especially felt this sense of connection in this piece, with its strongly marked mystical accents. It is written in homage to Jehan Alain – a composer of profound spirituality, whose work and personality resonate with me very deeply.”
Edvard Grieg was only 25 when, in 1868, he penned what would become his most popular – if not iconic – work. He was then staying in Denmark. At the time, Copenhagen was considered the centre of Scandinavian literary and artistic life. It was under the influence of Niels Gade – the Danish composer who succeeded Mendelssohn as director of Leipzig’s Gewandhaus – that Grieg, who until then had composed only small pieces, resolved to write something more ambitious. His Concerto immediately evokes Schumann – whose A minor Concerto Grieg had heard performed by the composer’s widow. His Op. 16 is characterised by rhythms, melodic formulas, and phrasing articulations drawn from Scandinavian folk traditions – especially in the third movement. In 1870, Liszt performed the work without having previously read it; its powerful Romanticism and deep nationalist sentiment moved him profoundly. Such praise helped place Grieg among the most prominent composers of his time – particularly admired by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The Concerto premiered in Copenhagen on 3 April 1869, performed by Edmund Neupert, with Grieg absent – detained by commitments in Christiania (now Oslo) – but in the presence of Gade and Anton Rubinstein.
Antonin Scherrer
Translation : Michelle Bulloch – Musitext
TEO GHEORGHIU
Teo Gheorghiu enjoys considerable popularity in Switzerland and has established an international reputation in recent years. The magazine Piano News recently described him as “a splendid, mature, and intelligent pianist.”
At the age of twelve, Teo Gheorghiu made his debut performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto at Zurich’s Tonhalle. Since then, he has built an extensive repertoire and performed with major orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, Danish National Symphony, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra. He maintains regular collaborations with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Winterthur Musikkollegium. His recitals have taken him to all major Swiss cities, as well as to London (Wigmore Hall), Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), Tokyo (Suntory Hall), Milan (Società del Quartetto), Santiago, the Beethovenfest in Bonn, the Dvořák Festival in Prague, the Louvre, and festivals in Bucharest, Gstaad, Verbier, Lucerne, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
In 2020, Claves and Teo Gheorghiu launched a long-term collaboration. Their first release, Duende, was enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike, earning a Diapason d’Or (“Teo Gheorghiu does nothing like everyone else”). Inspired by a bicycle journey through France and Spain, the album features solo piano works by Albéniz, Granados, Ravel, and Debussy. Teo Gheorghiu then answered the call of his roots, cycling from his native village in the Zurich Oberland to Romania, the land of his ancestors. His new album, Roots, is deeply imbued with this experience.
Born in 1992, Teo Gheorghiu has Romanian origins and holds dual Swiss and Canadian citizenship. In 2004, he won first prize at the San Marino International Piano Competition, and the following year at the International Franz Liszt Competition in Weimar. In 2010, the Beethovenfest in Bonn awarded him the Beethoven Ring. After spending most of his life in London, where he studied with Hamish Milne, he now resides once again in Switzerland.
Teo Gheorghiu is not only a keen cyclist but also enjoys playing football, travelling, and seeking out new discoveries in the world of popular music.
(2026) Gioia - CD 3116
FRIBOURG – LEIPZIG – COPENHAGEN : THE NORTH AND ITS CHILDLIKE FRESHNESS
No bicycle journey this time – unlike Duende in 2020 (which took Teo Gheorghiu to the Spain of Albéniz and the France of Debussy – Claves CD 3021), or Roots two years later (in search of paternal roots through the music of Enescu, Bartók and Mussorgsky – CD 3052). Instead, a third cardinal point guides this new discographic voyage: the North. First, the nearby Fribourg of Olivier Lattion – also Gheorghiu’s home since 2018. Then, Romantic Germany – embodied by Robert Schumann. Finally, the “true” North – of fjords and northern lights – through Edvard Grieg. At the close of the 19th century, Grieg – as a Norwegian – was seeking his own voice among the nations of Europe, and did not hesitate to sharpen it by drawing on the musical wells of the Old Continent (studying in Leipzig under Carl Reinecke and Ignaz Moscheles). A shifting thread, then – but one that, beyond geography, tells stories: of Teo Gheorghiu’s intimate bond with each of the three works on this album – stories of life, friendship, and (inevitably!) nature.
Fribourg is the alpha and the omega of this adventure. It was in the city of the Zähringen dynasty that Teo Gheorghiu first encountered Olivier Lattion’s music – through his daughter Gioia, who attended the same school as the composer’s son : a childhood connection, how symbolic ! – but it was in Fribourg’s Equilibre Hall on 30 January 2025 that the foundation of this album was laid : Grieg’s A minor Piano Concerto, marking his long-awaited meeting with Gábor Takács-Nagy – a conductor he has long admired, both through recordings of the famed Takács Quartet and through the maestro’s masterclasses in Verbier – and whose “youthful spirit” and “ability to touch everyone through the passionate, intense radiance of his baton” Gheorghiu cherishes. “A live recording is always a challenge,” he confides. “You can’t predict whether it will work. It might have failed – and we’d have found another launchpad for the album. But the stars aligned perfectly. I even feel the Fribourg Chamber Orchestra – which I’ve come to know better since taking over as head of the Fribourg Concert Society in 2023 – has never played so well! Especially welcome for a work as frequently recorded as Grieg’s Concerto: I believe we’ve succeeded in giving it a freshness and spontaneity that’s rather rare.”
The next step was to extend the magic – particularly that of the live performance – without resorting to the same “all-or-nothing” single-take gamble. In May 2025, the pianist and his recording team travelled to the Toggenburg region of St. Gallen to discover a brand-new musical space: the Klanghaus (literally “House of Sound”) in Unterwasser. A timeless wooden vessel nestled in breathtakingly pristine nature – lake and gently rolling wooded hills – it was the ideal setting for an artist who thrives on feeling pure air on his skin and grass beneath his feet between intense recording sessions. It was love at first sight – and the date was set to immortalise the two solo piano works on this “Nordic” album: July of that same year. Teo Gheorghiu had the brilliant idea of inviting family and friends to join him for the final, complete takes – those pivotal moments when tension eases, and the essence of what will be kept often emerges: the arc of breath that holds everything together. “It was the first time my family witnessed these very special moments – and I find that deeply symbolic. My little Gioia lies at the heart of this new project: her youth echoes Schumann’s Scenes, her childhood games led me to Olivier Lattion and enabled me to feel close to the deep spirituality of his music … and also because her presence in my life meant, for the first time in a long while, I didn’t hop on my bike to reach the destinations of my album!”
Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15, was composed in 1838. “Before Mussorgsky (Childhood Memories, Childish Joke), and before Bizet (Jeux d’enfants) or Debussy (Children’s Corner), Schumann speaks of children … to adults,” wrote Jean Gallois in the liner notes of a previous Claves album (CD 2601-02). Indeed, the composer had in mind scenes of children, not scenes for children: though the work does not demand the same unleashed virtuosity as the Kreisleriana, written at the same time, “the cycle calls for delicacy, attention to detail, and natural expression – a real challenge even for the most seasoned performers” (Jonas Pulver). Schumann clearly follows in the footsteps of Johann Sebastian Bach and his Klavierbüchlein, designed for learning through play. He wrote to Clara: “Is this an answer to what you once wrote – that I sometimes struck you as childlike? You will see that this child has grown wings, for I have written around thirty curious little pieces, of which I have selected a dozen – calling them Kinderszenen. You will enjoy playing them – but you must forget you are a virtuoso.”
Olivier Lattion’s À l’unisson du Ciel for solo piano, created by the composer on 18 August 2016 at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, is presented here in his own words: “For me – and probably for any composer who experiences some form of spirituality – the act of creation is not as solitary as it may seem. When I revisit one of my pieces months or years after writing it, I sometimes feel I am not its sole author – that it is, in fact, impossible for me to be its only author! To be ‘in unison with Heaven’ therefore means being connected to that source which overlays my existing capacities – technique, knowledge, sensitivity, and so on – with an extra layer of transcendence, one that can only come from a far higher creative energy … I especially felt this sense of connection in this piece, with its strongly marked mystical accents. It is written in homage to Jehan Alain – a composer of profound spirituality, whose work and personality resonate with me very deeply.”
Edvard Grieg was only 25 when, in 1868, he penned what would become his most popular – if not iconic – work. He was then staying in Denmark. At the time, Copenhagen was considered the centre of Scandinavian literary and artistic life. It was under the influence of Niels Gade – the Danish composer who succeeded Mendelssohn as director of Leipzig’s Gewandhaus – that Grieg, who until then had composed only small pieces, resolved to write something more ambitious. His Concerto immediately evokes Schumann – whose A minor Concerto Grieg had heard performed by the composer’s widow. His Op. 16 is characterised by rhythms, melodic formulas, and phrasing articulations drawn from Scandinavian folk traditions – especially in the third movement. In 1870, Liszt performed the work without having previously read it; its powerful Romanticism and deep nationalist sentiment moved him profoundly. Such praise helped place Grieg among the most prominent composers of his time – particularly admired by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The Concerto premiered in Copenhagen on 3 April 1869, performed by Edmund Neupert, with Grieg absent – detained by commitments in Christiania (now Oslo) – but in the presence of Gade and Anton Rubinstein.
Antonin Scherrer
Translation : Michelle Bulloch – Musitext
TEO GHEORGHIU
Teo Gheorghiu enjoys considerable popularity in Switzerland and has established an international reputation in recent years. The magazine Piano News recently described him as “a splendid, mature, and intelligent pianist.”
At the age of twelve, Teo Gheorghiu made his debut performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto at Zurich’s Tonhalle. Since then, he has built an extensive repertoire and performed with major orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, Danish National Symphony, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra. He maintains regular collaborations with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Winterthur Musikkollegium. His recitals have taken him to all major Swiss cities, as well as to London (Wigmore Hall), Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), Tokyo (Suntory Hall), Milan (Società del Quartetto), Santiago, the Beethovenfest in Bonn, the Dvořák Festival in Prague, the Louvre, and festivals in Bucharest, Gstaad, Verbier, Lucerne, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
In 2020, Claves and Teo Gheorghiu launched a long-term collaboration. Their first release, Duende, was enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike, earning a Diapason d’Or (“Teo Gheorghiu does nothing like everyone else”). Inspired by a bicycle journey through France and Spain, the album features solo piano works by Albéniz, Granados, Ravel, and Debussy. Teo Gheorghiu then answered the call of his roots, cycling from his native village in the Zurich Oberland to Romania, the land of his ancestors. His new album, Roots, is deeply imbued with this experience.
Born in 1992, Teo Gheorghiu has Romanian origins and holds dual Swiss and Canadian citizenship. In 2004, he won first prize at the San Marino International Piano Competition, and the following year at the International Franz Liszt Competition in Weimar. In 2010, the Beethovenfest in Bonn awarded him the Beethoven Ring. After spending most of his life in London, where he studied with Hamish Milne, he now resides once again in Switzerland.
Teo Gheorghiu is not only a keen cyclist but also enjoys playing football, travelling, and seeking out new discoveries in the world of popular music.
Return to the album | Read the booklet | Composer(s): Various Composers | Main Artist: Teo Gheorghiu
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