Muriel CHEMIN

this magnificent pianist makes the Beethoven universe her own without any difficulty, she faces it with admirable energy and tension . With these words the critic Philippe Simon of the prestigious French magazine Répertoire welcomes the third double CD of Muriel Chemins recording of all Beethoven Sonatas.
The Beethoven recording: an ambitious project, prerogative of the greatest pianists, which so far has only been attained by two women: by the Hungarian Annie Fischer and the Russian Tatiana Nicolaïeva.
The French pianist, born in Le Havre, imposes herself with determination and the results are astonishing. Referring to opus 57, the outstanding critic Philippe van den Bosch makes the following enthusiastic statement: All this creates an Appassionata for an anthology, inspired, visionary, driven by an incredible savage force. She manages to blend the furious frenesy of Schnabel, the lyric mood of Arrau, the nervous restlessness of Brendel she takes her place among the classical interpretations, making us forget about many that have gone before, and arousing our interest in what shall follow. She receives heart-felt congratulations by Carlo Maria Giulini for her interpretation of the last three Beethoven Sonatas which the Maestro listens to in 1998. But the ultimate test are the Sonatas opus 101 and 106, milestones of the piano repertoire. She passes the test: Muriel Chemin constructs these huge pictures step by step with a stamina and expressive power that demand our admiration.
The recording of the whole of Beethovens Opus has its roots in the pianists remote musical past. She starts studying music at the age of five guided by Jean and Marguerite Manuel and pursues her diploma at the Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot in Paris (diploma in piano, chamber music and history of music), achieving the Licence de Concert. She then decides to specialise in Italy with Maria Tipo where she gains the Premier Prix de Virtuosité.
She wins the International Hennessy-Mozart Competition in Paris where she receives the admiration of the jury, in particular of the president Paul Badura-Skoda.
On occasion of her Parisian début at the Salle Pleyel the famous French pianist France Clidat expresses her admiration for Muriel Chemins sonata in si minor by Franz Liszt. She plays at the Théatre de Paris and at the prestigious Salle Gaveau, but it is above all abroad in Italy, Switzerland, Austira, Germany, Romania, Turkey, Russia, Hungaria, Chile and in the United States that she performs regularly, not only as a soloist but as a chamber musician (duo with Alain Meunier), in piano duo and with the orchestra (together with many conductors such as A. Gerecz, U. Bendetti Michelangeli, D. del Pino Klinge, etc.).

Although over the last years most of the French pianists attention has gone into her Beethoven project, Muriel Chemin disposes of a vast repertoire ranging from Bach to the contemporaries and including the great German Romantics as well as the French impressionists. But her special devotion lies with Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and obviously with Beethoven of whom she also plays the five concertos.