I feel as though I’ve been a little disconnected this week because I have been immersed in preparations and recording sessions for my next CD, and have been inhabiting the turbulent, restless, melancholic and highly emotionally charged inner worlds of Schumann and Chopin rather than that of the outside world.

Recording of the Schumann G- minor sonata was completed in the past two days, and due to scheduling conflicts for all the parties involved, recording of the Chopin third sonata will take place next month. If all goes well, it will hopefully be released during the summer. Recording is always a difficult and challenging process for me - it is a gruelingly self-critical and a brutally emotional and mentally exhausting time. Listening to oneself over and over again, reworking and trying new things, and the constant emotional drainage that takes place from repeating takes to a microphone and not to a live audience, is very difficult. Unlike a live performance, which is a communicative and sharing event that takes place in one moment in time, a recording is a permanent archive that preserves an artist’s voice and interpretative statement, and because of this, a different set of challenges present themselves.

As I take a little time to rest and revive myself, click here to view a few photos I snapped at the recording sessions.