Mao Fujita - 72 Preludes

Following his 'consistently impressive' (Gramophone) traversal of Mozart's complete Piano Sonatas for Sony Classical - winner of an Opus Klassik Award - Japanese pianist Mao Fujita has recorded a similarly ambitious project. In so doing, Fujita unites the Europe in which he now lives with the Japan where he was born and raised.

Akio Yashiro was born in Tokyo and studied with Olivier Messiaen in Paris, where the two became close friends. His 24 Preludes, mapping the same cycle of keys as those by Chopin and Scriabin, date from 1945 - before the 15-year-old composer had travelled to Europe.