BALLADE
KIM BARBIER - PIANO - 2022

“...The stopover at Debussy is atmospheric and evocative, the journey from Bach to Chopin’s fifth Etude from Opus 25 is short and the etude concise and sparkling, while the twelfth from the same volume hints at the drama of the First Ballade with dark colors and plenty of power, the echo of which seems to be Bruno Delepelaire’s Eclats No. 2, a more than fitting echo of Chopin’s music. Then, with the Intermezzo op. 118/2 by Johannes Brahms, there is a conciliatory look back at a Ballade, a walk that brought many an emotion on a melodious Bechstein.”
-Pizzicato - Rémy Franck

Read the entire interview on rbb.de

"...A wonderful world of sounding phrasing opens up for Kim Barbier in Debussy's Clair de lune. The realisation of the Prélude (... The hills of Anacapri) is also worth hearing and innovative. Two Etudes and the 1st Ballade by Chopin are (not only) well mastered; the G minor Ballade (here nine and a half minutes) breathes grandeur; Barbier excellently shapes the melancholy, narrative, nostalgic features which are composed into this throw of Chopin's genius. [...]
-klassik-heute - Dr. Matthias Thiemel