News
The Best 20th-Century Recordings of Chopin’s Music available from ANAKLASIS as of 1st March!
14 / 02 / 2022
There are plenty of ideas for how to play Chopin, ‘iron rules’ for Chopin performance, and hypotheses concerning possible ways of interpretation. In the 3CD-box FRYDERYK CHOPIN – PIANO CONCERTOS / ÉTUDES / CHAMBER WORKS from ANAKLASIS we present treasures from archive recordings: a veritable pageant of artists who made the history of 20th-century Polish pianism.
Our 3CD-album is not theory, but the best of piano practice. What emerges out of this selection of most interesting 20th-century Polish Chopin interpretations is not only the composer’s musical portrait, but also an engaging picture of the reception of his music in his own country. Though this music is global property and beautifully performed worldwide, in what other place could it be better understood and more deeply experienced than in Poland? Embark with us on a sentimental musical journey. Sharpen your ears on ANAKLASIS and listen to Chopin’s finest works.
Poland’s most eminent composer, ‘poet of the piano’, was born on 1st March (according to his own declarations) or 22nd February (as the baptismal certificate states) 1810 in Żelazowa Wola, to the music-loving family of Polonised Frenchman Mikołaj (Nicolas) Chopin and his wife Tekla Justyna née Krzyżanowska. From his earliest years, he passionately soaked up the music of J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart, while during holidays he responded to the allure of folk melodies. ‘A Varsovian by birth, a Pole in his heart, a citizen of the world by virtue of his talent’, Chopin not only paved for Polish music the way to the world’s concert stages, but also mapped out a new direction in music, subsequently followed by Wagner, Rachmaninoff, and even Debussy and Scriabin. The piano was his special passion. His mazurkas, polonaises, waltzes, ballades, scherzos, songs, and other compositions combine virtuosity and masterful technique with a genuinely Polish spirit.
It was a child of its times, characterised by great care and sense of the performer’s special, infinite responsibility towards the composer, the work, and the audience. It appeared in a still rather unhurried age in which a new concert programme could (though not always) take years to prepare, and quality came first, not yet overshadowed by the pace of movement and by smiling Facebook selfies. It this respect, neoclassicism remained at that stage within the mental sphere of romanticism; music, even as joyful as the finales of the Chopin concertos, was sacred to musicians. Let us then try to understand it, especially since we are still rooted in the same ideas… or already only in the same words?
Emotions related to the Chopin Competition immediately fire the enthusiasm even of those music lovers who in other circumstances would seldom reach for the music of Poland’s most eminent composer. The temperature of the debate naturally reaches its height directly before the jury’s verdict is announced, but it later goes down only very slowly, and the process can take months if not years – luckily so, since these are matters worth arguing about… In the meantime, here comes our 3CD box FRYDERYK CHOPIN – PIANO CONCERTOS / ÉTUDES / CHAMBER WORKS from ANAKLASIS, aiming to reconcile all the parties. The Chopin interpretations contained in it, divided into three categories (piano concertos, études, and chamber music) are unquestionably outstanding and feature excellent Polish pianists from the mid-20th century: Halina Czerny-Stefańska, Regina Smendzianka, Władysław Szpilman, and Bolesław Woytowicz, accompanied by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Witold Rowicki.
All of the ANAKLASIS titles can be purchased from the best bookstores and music shops, online services, as well as the virtual shop of the empik chain.
The recordings comprised on FRYDERYK CHOPIN – PIANO CONCERTOS / ÉTUDES / CHAMBER WORKS from ANAKLASIS come from the National Digital Archives (NAC)
Media patrons: TVP Kultura, Polish Radio Channel Two, Ruch Muzyczny music magazine, Culture.pl
ANAKLASIS
A DIVISION OF
PWM EDITION
www.facebook.com/anaklasisrecords/
www.instagram.com/anaklasis
Our 3CD-album is not theory, but the best of piano practice. What emerges out of this selection of most interesting 20th-century Polish Chopin interpretations is not only the composer’s musical portrait, but also an engaging picture of the reception of his music in his own country. Though this music is global property and beautifully performed worldwide, in what other place could it be better understood and more deeply experienced than in Poland? Embark with us on a sentimental musical journey. Sharpen your ears on ANAKLASIS and listen to Chopin’s finest works.
Poland’s most eminent composer, ‘poet of the piano’, was born on 1st March (according to his own declarations) or 22nd February (as the baptismal certificate states) 1810 in Żelazowa Wola, to the music-loving family of Polonised Frenchman Mikołaj (Nicolas) Chopin and his wife Tekla Justyna née Krzyżanowska. From his earliest years, he passionately soaked up the music of J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart, while during holidays he responded to the allure of folk melodies. ‘A Varsovian by birth, a Pole in his heart, a citizen of the world by virtue of his talent’, Chopin not only paved for Polish music the way to the world’s concert stages, but also mapped out a new direction in music, subsequently followed by Wagner, Rachmaninoff, and even Debussy and Scriabin. The piano was his special passion. His mazurkas, polonaises, waltzes, ballades, scherzos, songs, and other compositions combine virtuosity and masterful technique with a genuinely Polish spirit.
It was a child of its times, characterised by great care and sense of the performer’s special, infinite responsibility towards the composer, the work, and the audience. It appeared in a still rather unhurried age in which a new concert programme could (though not always) take years to prepare, and quality came first, not yet overshadowed by the pace of movement and by smiling Facebook selfies. It this respect, neoclassicism remained at that stage within the mental sphere of romanticism; music, even as joyful as the finales of the Chopin concertos, was sacred to musicians. Let us then try to understand it, especially since we are still rooted in the same ideas… or already only in the same words?
Emotions related to the Chopin Competition immediately fire the enthusiasm even of those music lovers who in other circumstances would seldom reach for the music of Poland’s most eminent composer. The temperature of the debate naturally reaches its height directly before the jury’s verdict is announced, but it later goes down only very slowly, and the process can take months if not years – luckily so, since these are matters worth arguing about… In the meantime, here comes our 3CD box FRYDERYK CHOPIN – PIANO CONCERTOS / ÉTUDES / CHAMBER WORKS from ANAKLASIS, aiming to reconcile all the parties. The Chopin interpretations contained in it, divided into three categories (piano concertos, études, and chamber music) are unquestionably outstanding and feature excellent Polish pianists from the mid-20th century: Halina Czerny-Stefańska, Regina Smendzianka, Władysław Szpilman, and Bolesław Woytowicz, accompanied by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Witold Rowicki.
All of the ANAKLASIS titles can be purchased from the best bookstores and music shops, online services, as well as the virtual shop of the empik chain.
The recordings comprised on FRYDERYK CHOPIN – PIANO CONCERTOS / ÉTUDES / CHAMBER WORKS from ANAKLASIS come from the National Digital Archives (NAC)
Media patrons: TVP Kultura, Polish Radio Channel Two, Ruch Muzyczny music magazine, Culture.pl
ANAKLASIS
A DIVISION OF
PWM EDITION
www.facebook.com/anaklasisrecords/
www.instagram.com/anaklasis
