Frédéric François Chopin

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth we are reissuing on Helios some of the finest performances from Garrick Ohlsson’s complete Chopin project, originally recorded for the American label Arabesque and reissued on Hyperion as a 16 CD boxed set (CDS44351/66) in 2008. Sadly unacknowledged at the time of their original issue (very few of the original discs received much review coverage), these CDs include some of the greatest contemporary Chopin playing and include definitive performances of the complete etudes and mazurkas. It’s worth remembering the not only did Garrick win the 1970 Chopin competition (the only American to do so), but he also won the special prize for Mazurka playing, that most idiomatically Polish genre of Chopin’s output.

Janina Fialkowska is a regular guest soloist with the world’s most prestigious orchestras and has worked with conductors such as Haitink, Metha, Solti and Slatkin. She was born in Montreal amd her career was launched by Arthur Rubinstein after her prize winning performances at the first piano competition held in his name in 1974.

2 CDs for 1

The Chopin Sonata No. 3 from BRIDGE9276A/D has been included again in order to present the complete recital in the order in which Ms. Reisenberg performed it.

Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849), whose 200th birthday will be celebrated by the whole musical world in 2010, remained faithful to the piano throughout his entire career. More than any other instrument, the piano was his passion, and perhaps more than any other composer before him, he understood its technique and drew inspiration from its character. Two of his early piano concertos rank among his first truly timeless masterpieces. Rich ornamentation, striking harmonic progressions, flawless piano stylization and, in particular, fresh, intricate melodies make both of them gems of the piano concerto literature. Jan Simon, a Czech pianist with many years of experience on major international concert stages, has taken on the challenges presented by these works, and under his fingers Chopin’s music flows with lightness, confidence and bravura, as if the work were a momentary inspiration.

Simon finds ideal partners in Jirí Belohlávek and the Prague Philharmonia, who are not only sensitive accompanists, but also passionate protagonists in their own right.

30 CD + 1 CD ROM - CD-ROM contains notes on artists and concertos.

For anyone who loves the piano concerto, this 30CD set is a must-have. Containing the complete Beethoven cycle recorded by Brendel in the 1960s for Vox, the set also includes Tacchino’s pioneering set for the same label of the five Saint-Saëns concertos, and the complete Rachmaninoff concertos performed by Lugansky and Lill.

‘This performance gave me real pleasure. Brendel plays with a mixture of heart and head that is most satisfying, to which he adds countless touches of pianism that delight. He constantly throws light on the music by an interpretation that is clearly born of much thought about it and a deep understanding. The firstmovement is virile, the slow movement is most beautiful (I cannot imagine the solo opening better judged or more sympathetically played) and the finale goes at just the right speed, jaunty and pointed.’ Gramophone review, Brendel, Beethoven Concerto No.3

The 18th century is the starting point for this fabulous journey through the development of the piano concerto – Haydn’s delectable concertos and all Mozart’s 27, including the first four concertos. Kissin’s Tchaikovsky No.1 and Prokofiev No.3 can also be found here as well as his recording at the age of 12 of the two Chopin concertos, alongside rarities such as Field’s Concertos 5 & 6, and Weber’s three underrated concertos. Mendelssohn’s two brilliant concertos, the two huge masterworks by Brahms, Dvorák’s elusive G major Concerto with its beautiful slow movement, and the evergreen Schumann and Grieg ensure that this set will provide endless pleasure for the enthusiast.

Olejniczak is one of the leading Polish pianists and has won prizes in international piano competitions, including the Chopin competition in Warsaw. He has performed throughout the world and in many prestigious concert halls. Here he performs on a Pleyel piano of 1848 and an Erard piano of 1849.

Koriolov was born in Moscow in 1949. As a student, he won numerous prizes at international competitions and after graduating was invited to teach at the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. He later became a professor in Hamburg. His previous recordings on Tacet have all been very well received.