Piotr Plawner, the violinist on this recording, won first prize in five major competitions, including the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, where the violin prize has only been awarded three times in 50 years.
Composer Biography
Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a composer featured on this album, was also Poland's first prime minister and foreign minister after the re-establishment of the state in 1918.
Composer Biography
Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Zygmunt Stojowski, both composers on this album, were closely connected through a teacher-pupil relationship and a lifelong friendship.
Composer Biography
Zygmunt Stojowski, a composer on this album, was a polyglot who attracted the attention of Peter Tchaikovsky due to his fluency in seven languages, including Polish, Russian, French, and German.
Performer Biography
Piotr Plawner, the violinist, places special importance on lesser-known, rarely performed music and works by Polish composers, having recorded most of the violin and piano works by Grażyna Bacewicz.
Historical Context
Poland existed only as a cultural nation after its state disappeared from the map of Europe following the Third Partition of 1795 among Russia, Austria, and Prussia.
Historical Context
For decades, there was an international impression that Poland had no significant composers between Fryderyk Chopin and Karol Szymanowski, despite a rich cultural output in literature and painting during the same period.
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