Concerts at Hatchlands Park: Alexander Gadjiev, Consone Quartet and Jan Zahourek

Alexander Gadjiev - Chopin’s ‘Own’ Grand Piano, No. 13819, by Pleyel & Compagnie, 1848, Adopted for 2025 by The Chopin Society
Consone Quartet - strings
Jan Zahourek – double bass

This recording was sponsored by Blavatnik Family Foundation.
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THE PROGRAMME
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
01:25 Prelude in C Sharp Minor Op. 45
06:01 Two Mazurkas Op. 56
14:10 Polonaise in F Sharp Minor Op. 44
38:00 Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor Op. 21 (arranged for piano and string quintet)
Maestoso; Larghetto; Allegro Vivace 

THE PIANO
Pleyel pianos were Chopin’s instruments of choice from his arrival in Paris in 1831 until his death. While the firm normally lent Chopin any piano he wanted without charge, this was only provided they remained in France. The piano played in this recital, Pleyel No. 13819, is, however, one of two Pleyel pianos that Chopin had actually to pay for, because he wished in April 1848 to take it to England. He had already had it for some months in his home at Square d’Orléans, and had almost certainly used it for his public concert in the Salle Pleyel in February. Pleyel No. 13819 travelled with him to London and he slept his first few nights in a London lodging along with it still in its packing case. It was a source of considerable pleasure to him that in his drawing-room in his second London lodging, 48 Dover Street, there were three piano by the three dominant piano-makers of his era – Camille Pleyel, Pierre Erard and John Fowler Broadwood – all three of whom Chopin knew and who experienced his friendship, comments, praise or criticism. He made proud allusion to the three pianos in several of his letters, always referring to the Pleyel as ‘his own’.

The one other Pleyel instrument for which he had had to take financial responsibility, was the pianino he asked to be sent to Majorca for his celebrated sojourn there ten years earlier.

The making of Pleyel 13819 took a year, with it being finally varnished on 8th January 1848. By the 11th February it had been delivered to the composer. On it Chopin composed and performed some major works, including Barcarolle op. 60 and the Cello Sonata op. 65.

THE PERFORMERS
Alexander Gadjiev played for the first time with an orchestra at the age of nine, and held his first solo recital aged ten. He was awarded his diploma at the age of seventeen, with the highest marks and honours. This allowed him to participate in the Premio Venezia – a competition reserved for the best young talents in Italy – and to win the 30th edition of the award.
Alexander has just received the Second Prize and the “Krystian Zimerman Prize for the best performance of a Sonata” at the”18th Chopin Competition” in Warsaw.
A few months before he won the First Prize and several other prizes the 2021 Sydney International Piano Competition.

The first period instrument quartet to be selected as BBC New Generation Artists, the Consone Quartet (Agata Daraškaitė – violin, Magdalena Loth-Hill – violin, Elitsa Bogdanova – viola and George Ross - cello) are fast making a name for themselves with their honest and expressive interpretations of classical and early romantic repertoire. Their debut CD, released in 2018 on the French Ambronay Label, explores music by Haydn and Mendelssohn. It was met with great critical acclaim as a recording “that instantly leaps out of the stereo at you as something special” (The Strad, 2019).
Formed at the Royal College of Music in London, the Consone Quartet are winners of the 2016 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Prize in London, having previously been awarded two prizes at the 2015 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, including the EUBO Development Trust Prize and a place on the EEEmerging Scheme in France.

Jan Zahourek was born in Denver Colorado and grew up in New York City and Jersey City, and Amherst Massachusetts.
It was in New York City and Jersey City that Jan was exposed to the wide spectrum of music and art that probably helped to create his interest in and passion for music.
Jan was offered another full scholarship to complete a Master Degree in viola da gamba at Trinity College of Music, and he meanwhile played in London, England and the world with orchestras and Ensembles like the Philharmonia, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Solomon’s Knot, and many others.

THE COLLECTION
The Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands possesses the world’s largest group of keyboards owned by or associated with the masters of music in the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, including instruments that belonged to or were played by Purcell, J C Bach, Mozart, Marie Antoinette, Haydn, Beethoven, Bizet, Liszt, Mahler and Elgar. Amongst them is a truly exceptional group of instruments associated with Chopin.