Bacewicz Jablonski Brauss

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 new release from DUX presents 20th century works for violin duo by Polish composers, performed here by Polish violinists Marta Gidaszewska and Robert Laguniak. Among the composers whose works we can hear on the album, Grazyna Bacewicz occupies a prominent place. Both her Suite for Two Violins (1943) and Easy Duets on Folk Themes for Two Violins (1945), meant for didactic purposes, charm with Bacewicz's typical precision and clarity of structure and interesting melodies. The Sonatina for Two Violins by Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz also refers to Neoclassicism, although the harmony of the piece is more complex, and its expressive values differ from the subdued emotions typical of that era. The next composition, Michal Spisak's Suite for Two Violins, also deviates from the Neoclassical model; despite its declarative title, it is a mysterious work with the narrative element in the dominant role. The last piece presented, Sonata for Two Violins, is a work by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a Polish composer of Jewish origin whose music is currently being discovered after years of neglect.

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).

Pianist Peter Jablonski's second album on Ondine features a large selection of piano works by Alexey Stanchinsky (1888-1914), 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.