Chopin: Rondo a la Mazurka, Op. 5

Ian Holtham is a distinguished Melbourne-based pianist who has a long discography of Classical and Romantic music to his credit, especially including the music of Chopin.

In this, his first release on Tall Poppies, he has chosen a program of relatively rare works from the piano repertoire. In Ian’s own words:

“The repertoire chosen for the CD is a compilation unique in piano discography and in the history of piano performance. The version of the Schubert unfinished Sonata DV 625 contains completions of the outer movements in which I have had a creative hand and which have never been recorded or performed before. My own interest in commemorative repertoire is enriched through the inclusion of Brahms’ own transcription of the second movement of the string sextet Op. 18, which was a birthday present to Clara Schumann who had expressed fond admiration for the movement in its original string format. The score of this work was only discovered well into the twentieth century. Chopin’s Rondo a la Mazurka would be the least known of all this composer’s major piano output and similarly Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op 6 is the most significant of all his major piano cycles, but it is also by far the least performed."

Evgeni Bozhanov is a distinguished Bulgarian pianist carried by the temperament of great virtuosity from the late 19th and the early 20th century. He is the winner of the 2nd Prize in the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium [Belgium, 2010] and has won awards in numerous piano competitions since 1996, including 4th prize in the 16th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw [2010].

This CD gives the listener the opportunity to savour the artistry of Bozhanov’s piano playing, as it illustrates well his interesting and individual approach to Frederic Chopin’s works.

Tatiana Shebanova graduated from the Pyotr Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with a Gold Medal and is a Grand Prix winner of international music competitions in Prague, Geneva and Brussels. She has led an intensely musical life and, as well as being a soloist, has performed piano duets with her husband and son. She is performing on an Erard 1849 fortepiano.

The young Chopin, a child prodigy if ever there was one, soon found his surroundings in his native Warsaw too narrow, and visited the cultural capital Vienna during the years 1829-1831. Here he met the local piano manufacturer Conrad Graf and was seduced by his instruments, with their light action and delicate, pliant sound. His triumphal concerts in Vienna were played on Graf’s pianos, and the young Fryderick was presented one as a gift by Graf himself.

This disc presents works of Chopin written in his Vienna period, and here they are played on exactly such an instrument, as is still preserved in the Italian Palazzo Contucci in Montepulciano.

The extensive booklet supplies historical background, pictures, illustrations and photos.

Costantino Mastroprimiano already recorded extensively for Brilliant Classics: the complete keyboard music of Clementi, highly praised by international critics.