Chopin: Polonaises Rafal Blechacz

• 1 No. 1 in C sharp minor. Allegro appassionato 07:04
• 2 No. 2 in E flat minor. Maestoso 07:24
• 3 No. 1 in A major. Allegro con brio 05:06
• 4 No. 2 in C minor. Allegro maestoso 06:44
• 5 Tempo di polacca – doppio movimento, tempo di Mazurka – Tempo I 00:00
• 6 Maestoso 06:27
• 7 Allegro maestoso 12:39
• Total Runtime 45:24

Info for Chopin: Polonaises

We are in for a real treat, writes Jacek Marczyński in Rzeczpospolita. Although the works are very popular, only a few artists dared to make them the defining theme of their album. However, the choice of works on Rafal Blechacz’s album is all his own. He recorded the most popular polonaises, but also added one that is considered the most difficult: Polonaise-Fantasia Op. 61, which is very complex in form and expresses a great variety of moods. There are no early and rarely performed works by Chopin.

This will be Rafal Blechacz’s fifth album for Deutsche Grammophon. The German label, for which many great pianists make recordings, holds the collaboration with the Pole in high regard. His albums are selling very well and receive many awards. The one released last year, with works by Debussy and Szymanowski, won the Fryderyk Award for best classical music album. More important for the Polish artist’s career is another prestigious distinction: the “Echo Klassik 2012" for best piano music album. This is the most important record prize awarded in Germany.

„...A multitude of figures, powerful basses, cascades of octaves, foaming arpeggios are ”tamed” by the pianist with impressive clarity. In a fascinating way he reveals the contrasting character of little bells’ clear peals in the Scherzo and the gloomy motifs of ”the funeral march” in the finale.” (Berlin, Der Tagesspiegel)

Rafal Blechacz, piano

Rafal Blechacz
was born in Nakło nad Notecią, Poland, on 30 June 1985. At the age of five he began to learn the piano at a local music centre and three years later enrolled at Bydgoszcz’s Artur Rubinstein Music School. Between 1996 and 1999 he won the top awards at a number of Polish national piano competitions. In 2005 he was awarded first prize at the 15th Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, and three special prizes: the Polish Radio Award for “Best Performance of the Mazurkas”, the Polish Chopin Society Award for “Best Polonaise Performance”, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Award for “Best Concerto Performance”. Addition­ally, he won the prize founded by Krystian Zimerman for “Best Sonata Per­formance”. Rafal recorded his first CD for Deutsche Grammophon in 2007 and since then has continued to rise in popularity, dazzling live audiences throughout the world.

Booklet for Chopin: Polonaises