Bronislawa Kawalla, the first prize winner at the International Bach Competition in Washington, comes from a well-known musical family. She graduated from the Secondary Music School in Krakow in the class of Maria Bilinska-Riegerowa and studied at the Higher State School of Music in Warsaw (currently the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music) in the class of Professor Jan Ekier. She polished her skills in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Monique Haas, as well as at the Academie Internationale de Maurice Ravel with Philippe Entremont. She has recorded for Polish Radio and Television recordings, and has performed in renowned concert halls all over Europe, Canada, the USA, Latin America, and Asia. Kawalla is also devoted to pedagogical work, being a professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Appropriately, for this release she has chosen a programme of music by Chopin.

Dear children, today we would like to tell you about Frederic Chopin. This phenomenal composer and pianist is still known around the world , even today. He was born about 200 years ago in a small mansion house in Zelazowa Wola, not very far from Warsaw. Count Skarbek owned the house, where Frederic's Dad, Nicolas Chopin lived. Frederic's Dad was a tutor, which means he taught children from rich families at their home. Frederic's Mum was a very warm-hearted and caring person. She kept a warm and welcoming home where everyone felt comfortable. Little Frederic was very gifted at the piano. He began lessons at six years old and soo after started composing. Frederic grew into a world-renown composer and on this album you can hear his most important works.

Fryderyk Chopin, a pendant in preparing his compositions to print, stubborn in negotiations with copyists and publishers, did not approve the songs to be published. Juliusz Fontana, the composer’s friend and later the publisher of the songs, mentioned that in Paris, at emigrant evenings, Chopin “in the moments of hearty frankness would recite them with intonation and accompaniment of the piano, with a book of poetry in front of him, postponing the moment of writing them down.” Such a moment never arrived, and Chopin never wrote down the songs. The songs were composed spontaneously, mostly during his youth in Warsaw. These songs are presented here, imagined and realized by the young pianist Blazej Kwiatkowski. He performs on a historical Broadwood piano from 1847, one that was played in Chopin’s times. The Broadwood’s sound is sorrowful, especially in minor keys which are often found in these songs. In the staccato sections the sound becomes jingling, which adds expression to battle rhythms of Before the Battle and Song from the Grave. The Broadwood’s sound has relatively short reverberation, which places the songs in an empty space, as the past in which they were created seems to us.

Perhaps Chopin’s most famous review, Robert Schumann wrote after listening to the Variations on a Theme from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, “Hapts off gentlemen- a genius.” A virtuosic pianist, Chopin wrote primarily for solo piano. His works remain extremely popular, and he is one of the leading symbols of the Romantic era. Tackling these works is pianist Piotr Paleczny. Paleczny studied at the Music Academy in Warsaw, and has won five international piano competitions. He has served as Artistic Director of the International Chopin Festival in Dusznilki Zdroj since 1993.

Dear children, today we would like to tell you about Frederic Chopin. This phenomenal composer and pianist is still known around the world , even today. He was born about 200 years ago in a small mansion house in Zelazowa Wola, not very far from Warsaw. Count Skarbek owned the house, where Frederic's Dad, Nicolas Chopin lived. Frederic's Dad was a tutor, which means he taught children from rich families at their home. Frederic's Mum was a very warm-hearted and caring person. She kept a warm and welcoming home where everyone felt comfortable. Little Frederic was very gifted at the piano. He began lessons at six years old and soo after started composing. Frederic grew into a world-renown composer and on this album you can hear his most important works.

Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin was a genius who created mainly piano music. All of his creative output is characterized by beautiful lyricism. This new release features Chopin’s piano works transcribed for cello and piano. This project is funded by The Cultural Education Foundation, founded by Roza Paderewska in 2010. The aim of the foundation is cultural animation carried out by varied educational and artistic activities. They also strive to promote Polish culture. This release of transcriptions, performed by outstanding artists Tomasz Strahl and Janusz Olejniczak is the next project which fits into the programme of the Foundation. Tomasz Strahl graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, cello class of Professor Kazimierz Michalik and completed a postgraduate course at Hochschule fur Musik and darstellende Kunst in Vienna under Professor Tobias Kuhne. Janusz Olejniczak is one of the most outstanding contemporary Chopin interpreters. Born in Wroclaw, he was the youngest prize-winner of the 8th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition and also won a prize in the Alfredo Casella International Competition in Naples.

This debut album from the outstanding pianist Rafal Mokrzycki, devoted entirely to Fryderyk Chopin's music, is an ingenious compilation of musical genres, ranging from narrative forms (Ballade in G minor, Op. 23), ending with dance miniatures (Mazurkas, Op. 50 and waltzes). Rafal Mokrzycki is a Polish pianist. He is a winner of the Valletta International Piano Competition in Valletta, Malta, 2017, where he received also a special prize: a possibility to play with the National Radio and Television Orchestra in Tirana, Albania. He has been awarded in many other national and international competitions and was supported by the Karol Szymanowski Foundation and the National Fund for Children. He is now a member of Music Societies in Torun and Poznan, Poland.

One can appreciate the concert performances as the more lively, genuine and authentic than the recordings made in studio. This is due to the fact that the artist's performance of music with the participation of audience, on a concert stage, is accompanied by genuine emotions. Each concert is a rush of adrenaline, which translates into a spontaneous performance, fresh interpretation ideas, liveliness and at the same time authenticity of the artistic message. Nowadays, only a few living artists decide to record such a demanding repertoire in the concert version. This album of Rafal Luszczewski is another concert offer of this versatile artist. This time the pianist, somewhat analogously to his previous album, decided to bring you closer his public performance of the complete set of Fryderyk Chopin's Ballades, supplementing the album with other selected works by the Polish Romantic.

ELFRUN GABRIEL SPIELT CHOPIN

Classical Music

The present release presents one of the twentieth century's most virtuosic performers in a programme of works by Chopin. The noted Hungarian-born French pianist, Georges Cziffra, was a son of Hungarian Romas. He became noted at the age of 5, improvising on popular tunes in bars and circuses. His teachers at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest included Erno Dohn�nyi. His education was interrupted by World War II, when he served in the Hungarian army. After the war he continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy with Ferenczi, but was once more distracted from music when he was arrested in 1950 for his rebellious political views, and was held under forced labor. He was released from jail in 1953, but was again endangered by the abortive Hungarian revolt in 1956. He went on to escape with his wife and son to Vienna, where his career skyrocketed. He became best known for his interpretations of works of the Romantic repertoire, most notably those of Liszt, Chopin, and Schumann.

Chopin: Polonezy / Mazurki / Rondo C-Dur

PIANO CONCERTO MAZURKAS OP.50

BALLADE IN F MIN

Chopin: Chamber Music