Bacewicz Jablonski Brauss

This album marks the second release by Polish-born violinist Joanna Kurkowicz to be devoted to the concertos of Grazyna Bacewicz, a violinist/composer who survived World War II and Stalinism with her artistic vision intact. Not only that, she adapted the violin concerto, not a form in great favor in the 20th century, to waves of successive influences. As Eastern Europe emerges as the crucible where musicians tried to build a durable culture out of the 20th century's various musical and political "isms," Bacewicz's music is well worth keeping an eye on.

Pianist Peter Jablonski's second album on Ondine features a large selection of piano works by Alexey Stanchinsky (18881914), one of the most talented Russian composers of the early 20th Century. Stanchinsky was not only a talent but a genuine innovator who despite of his early death had a profound influence on the generation of composers to follow. Peter Jablonski is the perfect interpreter to these magnificent gems.

Internationally acclaimed Swedish pianist Peter Jablonski is known as a fervent champion of Polish music. In this album Jablonski returns to some of his dearest piano music – Chopin’s Mazurkas. For Chopin, the Mazurkas became a deeply personal, intimate statement of his feelings as an émigré Polish composer living in Paris. From some of his very first compositions to his last, it is the only form that Chopin composed regularly throughout his life. Similarly, Chopin’s Mazurkas have followed Peter Jablonski throughout his entire career as a pianist in nearly every solo recital.

This second and final volume of Chopin’s Mazurkas by Peter Jablonski includes the composer's Mazurkas Nos. 30-51 alongside six posthumous mazurkas. For Chopin, the Mazurkas became a deeply personal, intimate statement of his feelings as an émigré Polish composer living in Paris. From some of his very first compositions to his last, it is the only form that Chopin composed regularly throughout his life. Similarly, Chopin’s Mazurkas have followed Peter Jablonski throughout his entire career as a pianist in nearly every solo recital. This album also includes Chopin’s final composition that was written just few weeks before his death, the Mazurka No. 49 in F minor (1849).