ALEXANDRA DARIESCU
21st century Romanian pianist

On this page, the young Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu plays music by Scarlatti, Tchaikovsky, Bartok, Szymanowski, Shostakovich and others. To my ear she is just the right kind of young pianist. Yes, I know. It sounds pompous. But unlike so many of her contemporaries, her playing is not about her. It's about the music.

Alexandra Dariescu has been named by International Piano Magazine as one of the "30 pianists under 30 destined for a spectacular career". She was awarded the Custodian of the Romanian Crown Medal, the youngest musician ever to receive a distinction from the Royal Family of Romania. She won UK’s Women of the Future Award in the Arts and Culture category in 2013, Romania’s Woman of the Year in 2014, and was named “Special Ambassador of Romania” and granted a diplomatic passport in 2015. Alexandra Dariescu is a rising star indeed and is, for a refreshing change, well deserving of the accolades. 

Of the works represented on this page, the Szymanowski and Shostakovich Preludes, and the Scarlatti F minor sonata are among my favorites, beautifully played and with a musicality that makes me pay attention and want to hear more. And all the more pleasing is that in a number of the examples of her playing, we get to see her hands.

Go to Dariescu plays Chopin to hear a beautiful set of the Op 28 Préludes and s lovely rendition of the Op 22 Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante anomg other works by Chopin, Schumann and Liszt.

Scarlatti  Keyboard Sonata in F minor, K 466 (L 118)
[ Andante moderato ]

2013 live video from the Georges Enescu International Festival in Bucharest