Chopin

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.

Chelsea Guo is a musical polymath who brings her dual gifts as pianist and soprano to this, her debut album. Hailed as a Chopin specialist during her prizewinning performances at the 2020 Chopin Piano Competition, Guo performs solo piano works that show all facets of the composer’s style, including the Barcarolle in F-sharp minor, Op. 60 and the four Op. 33 Mazurkas, in which Chopin took existing folk styles to new heights with his nuanced, ground-breaking approach. Chelsea Guo’s unique talents are to the fore in the three songs on this album, in which she simultaneously sings and plays; the programme also includes Chopin’s complete 24 Preludes, Op. 28, an extraordinary set composed in every available key.