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.

Ronald Stevenson, unknown to many outside the British isles, is considered by several pianists as one of the most important pianist-composers of the 20th century. This new album by Peter Jablonski includes several world première recordings from the Scottish composer. Following the tradition of many great pianists, Stevenson created piano transcriptions from the works of other composers and also wrote music in a variety of styles. This album offers a compelling portrait of the Scottish piano master.

Throughout his life Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) displayed a great admiration for the music of Frederic Chopin. So much so that some of his early Sonatas and Preludes are written in the same harmonic style as Chopin. And similar to Chopin, only a handful of Scriabin's works were orchestral in nature, as most of his prolific output was devoted to the piano. And nowhere are the similarities more apparent than in the Op. 3 Mazurkas. After all, the Mazurka is native to Poland and not Russia. In his youth Scriabin had a voracious appetite for all music, most notably from German composers, and you can already denote a Wagnerian influence to his harmonic development. So as you progress through these opus numbers, the basic attributes of the Mazurka may remain constant, but Scriabin's highly evolved harmonic language expands their reach.

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.

This album marks Peter Jablonskis debut for the Ondine label. Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) created an impressive catalogue of works for the piano and became one of the great innovators in 20th century music. In his early works, the listener can sense the composers great admiration for the art of Frédéric Chopin. This is especially manifested in the over 20 Mazurkas that Scriabin wrote for the solo piano, the very same form of music that Chopin followed throughout his active years as a composer. Jablonski's album includes all Scriabin's Mazurkas with an opus number as well as two early Mazurkas.