Paderewski: Piano Concerto / Polish Fantasy

Description

Ignacy Paderewski(1860-1941)Piano Concerto; PolishFantasy on Original Themes; OvertureAn internationally famous virtuoso pianist, President of the newlyindependent Republic of Poland, Honorary Doctor from Universities as far apartas Lemberg, Cracow, Oxford and Yale, Paderewski also had time to become one ofPoland's leading Romantic composers of the late nineteenth and early twentiethcenturies. Although perhaps still a minor composer on the European standard ofgreatness, his music somehow fits neatly in the gap between his two otherfamous compatriots, Chopin and Szymanowski. Always attractive and sometimesrather more, this is music that reflects the patriotism of its countrymen aswell as the rich sonorities of the time.Ignacy Paderewski was born on 6th November, 1860 in the eastern part ofPoland, in the small town of Kurylowka on the river San, close to the Ukrainianborder. His mother died when he was at an early age and he soon became subjectto his father's political, revolutionary idealism. At eighteen, he graduatedfrom the Conservatory in Warsaw and became a professor of piano there. Twoyears later, having moved to Berlin, he took up studies with Friedrich Kiel andHeinrich Urban (teacher also to the late romantic composer Karlowicz). Afterreturning home to Poland, he gave piano recitals in Cracow before moving on toVienna where he began studies with the famous virtuoso pianist, Leschetizky.Paderewski's own career as a legendary pianist was now set to take offand he made his solo debut in Vienna in 1887, followed by Paris a year laterand capped by a hugely successful Carnegie Hall recital in New York in 1891.His name was soon to become known throughout the whole of the musical world. Atour of the USA followed consisting of a remarkable 117 recitals. It was onlythe rather cool English public which seemed, at least at that stage, to be nonetoo enthusiastic about his playing.It was hardly surprising that Paderewski should consider writing some ofhis own music to demonstrate that pianistic talent and he completed a pianoconcerto in 1888 and the Polish Fantasy five years later in 1893, aswell as a sonata for solo piano and various short pieces. The Piano Concertowas first performed by the Russian pianist Anna Esipova, wife of Leschetizky,under one of the most famous conductors of the time, Hans Richter, and becamean immediate success.Poland at that timewas struggling for freedom and a national identity, and Paderewski turned hisattention to the subject of a national opera. This became Manru, basedupon Kraszewski's House Outside the Village. The opera was completed in1900 but after early performances it disappeared from the stage without trace.A similar patriotic vein can be found in his rather unwieldy but still somehowimpressive nationalist Polonia Symphony, first heard in Lausanne inSwitzerland in 1908 and a short time later given in Boston by Max Fiedler.In 1910, Paderewski appeared in the opening concert of the WarsawPhilharmonic and gave arousin