Pianist Mao Fujita's New Album, "72 Preludes"

Released on Sony Classical, the album features Preludes Cycles By Chopin, Scriabin, and a world premiere

Pianist Mao Fujita has released his newest album, 72 Preludes on Sony Classical. The album features Preludes Cycles By Chopin, Scriabin, and a world premiere recording of Akio Yashiro’s 24 Preludes.

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

Chopin’s set of 24 Préludes, completed in 1839, was the first work to treat the piano prelude as a self-contained work capable of standing alone. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier had set a precedent, and in response, Chopin's set covers every key from C major to D minor, alternating major tonalities with their relative minors.

Listen to Mao perform Chopin's 24 Preludes: No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor:

On his new album, Mao treats Chopin’s cycle as the foundation that crosses borders. In 1884, Russian visionary Alexander Scriabin began work on his own set of 24 Preludes, directly inspired by Chopin’s. Scriabin’s pieces build on the fluency of Chopin’s - also using his key scheme — while showing the composer’s emerging radical harmonic and rhythmic character.

Composer 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. The works incorporate a variety of moods and styles as he explored varied harmonic and rhythmic devices. Fujita likens the contents of his new recording to a refreshing but hearty sushi meal:

“If the Chopin and the Scriabin are the fish and the rice, the base, the Yashiro is the wasabi - just as vital, and with that special kick to create something delicious,” shared Mao.

In 1976, Akio died aged just 46. Mao has since developed a friendship with the composer’s widow, who has shared stories surrounding the composer’s weekly Saturday concerts of new music and the compositional methodology of his 24 Preludes, which the composer once described as “the pieces in which I express myself most fully and one of the greatest pieces I ever wrote.” Fujita consulted the original manuscripts before recording the work.

With three four-day sessions allocated to the recording, Mao shared his thoughts on Sony Classical. “The studio is fantastic - the same studio we used for the Mozart - and Martin Kistner, the engineer and producer of this album is fantastic, I respect him a lot,” says the pianist. “We are a good team and it was a wonderful process.”

Mao recently made his BBC Proms debut in August with the Czech Philharmonic under Jakub Hrůša. His upcoming U.S. Tour includes a performance at Carnegie Hall in November 2024 and Symphony Center in March 2025.