Recently signed to Deutsche Grammophon China, pianist and poet Xiaofu Ju offers a first glimpse of his upcoming debut album Mist Without with a performance of Leoš Janáček’s In the Mists, I. Andante.
Composed in 1912, Janáček’s four-piece cycle In the Mists is among the Czech composer’s most introspective piano works. Written during a period marked by personal loss and professional uncertainty, the music unfolds in a world of shifting harmonies, fragmented memories and elusive emotions. The opening Andante drifts between clarity and ambiguity, making it a fitting entry point into Ju’s carefully conceived programme.
Born in China, Xiaofu Ju has emerged as a distinctive artistic voice who combines music, literature and poetry in his work. His debut album for Deutsche Grammophon China is not conceived as a traditional recital but as an immersive listening experience in which music, text and poetry form a unified artistic narrative.
Inspired by the German concept of Weltschmerz (“the pain of the world”) and the spirit of Chinese Misty Poetry, Mist Without brings together works by Janáček, Ravel, Mozart, Dowland and Scriabin. Rather than presenting a collection of individual masterpieces, the album traces a story-like arc through memory, night, mourning, darkness and transformation, inviting listeners into a world where meaning emerges gradually, like shapes appearing through mist.
The album will be released digitally, on CD and on vinyl on 10 July 2026. More info here.
Watch Xiaofu Ju perform Janáček’s In the Mists, I. Andante below.
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