Maria Gabryś Heyke Karol Mikuli, Aleksander Michałowki Piano Works

A respected pianist and authority on Chopin, Karol Mikuli composed some forty works notable for their virtuosity and meticulous care for beauty of sound. Adolph Gutmann, who was a member of Chopin’s intimate circle, wrote fashionable salon music that enjoyed widespread popularity. The Four Mazurkas of the Norwegian piano virtuoso Thomas Tellefsen, though clearly related to Chopin’s mazurka style, are highly individual works, incorporating elements from Norwegian folk-music. Of Carl Filtsch, who died aged only fifteen, Liszt said: “When this little one begins to tour, I will have to close up shop.”

Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman returns to his roots to pay tribute to his compatriot Karol Szymanowski on the 140th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Having studied his solo piano works for decades, Zimerman presents a new album of richly varied repertoire spanning the period from 1899 to the mid−1920s. His aim is to shed new light on this less familiar aspect of Szymanowski’s output and help cement his reputation as one of the great composers of piano music.

This new release which is the third of a 5 volume series covering the complete Piano Works of Karol Szymanowski includes Four Studies for Piano Op. 4 & Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major Op. 21, and eight pieces from the Twenty Mazurkas for Piano Op. 50.

The fourth and fifth albums of this Szymanowski’s complete solo piano works series. This release introduces piano music from all of three Szymanowskis style periods. Pianist Anu Vehviläinen (DMus) works as a university lecturer at the DocMus Doctoral School of the Sibelius Academy, the University of the Arts Helsinki. She teaches piano, supervises artistic doctoral students’ theses, runs courses and develops the artistic education at the doctoral level. Vehviläinen’s artistic interest has focussed on Karol Szymanowski’s piano music.