Only eight of Chopin's Polonaises were published during his lifetime, those he officially included in his catalogue of works between 1830 and 1846.
Composition History
Chopin composed 18 works titled Polonaise, though one based on themes from Rossini's 'Barber of Seville' is unfortunately lost.
Composer Biography
Frédéric Chopin's first written and printed composition was a Polonaise, composed when he was just eight years old in 1817.
Performer Biography
Eugene Mursky, the pianist on this recording, won first prize at the World Piano Competition in London in 1994, which included an award for the best Chopin interpretation.
Compositional Technique
The Polonaise form is comparable to a Scherzo, typically featuring a short introduction, a thematic complex, a trio, and a varied repetition of the main section.
Instruments
For this recording, Eugene Mursky chose a newly developed Sauter concert grand piano, which uses titanium instead of steel for pins and string bearings in the treble section for better resonance.
