Chopin & Lazkano: Préludes forges an illuminating conversation between tradition and innovation. Maroussia Gentet’s interpretation of Chopin moves beyond classic lyricism to lay bare the composer’s volatility - her touch reveling in crisp transparency one moment, then digging into pools of shadow the next. Each Prélude becomes not merely an étude in mood but a fragmentary sketch for emotional and pianistic possibility. Against this backdrop, Ramon Lazkano’s contemporary ensemble Préludes - realized by Ensemble Cairn - spin Chopin’s motifs into new forms. Under Guillaume Bourgogne, Lazkano’s pieces do not simply reply to Chopin, but destabilize and refract his language: playful, searching, filled with abrupt shifts from density to stillness. Cairn’s musicians illuminate the seams and edges of the ensemble texture, exposing connections to Chopin while allowing Lazkano’s own harmonic world to breathe. Sequenced to permit echoes and transformations, the album’s architecture enhances the interplay between nostalgia and modernity, intimacy and abstract:ion. The physicality of Gentet’s piano and the structural curiosity of Cairn’s ensemble perform a balancing act - one that avoids sentimentality in pursuit of something brighter and stranger, where the present retunes the past in real time.