Szymanowski: Pontinen - Piano Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

1839 was Schumann's most productive year of writing for solo piano, and the last year he wrote a major work for piano solo. The following year, Schumann wrote no works for solo piano, focusing a new energy in writing songs. 1840 is famously known as his 'Year of Song' (Liederjahr), hence our coined title 'Year of Piano' with all the works on this album, apart from 3 Stücklein, written in 1838. This is Papastefanou's third album for FHR. Alexandra Papstefanou graduated from Athens Conservatoire, where she studied piano under Aliki Vatikioti. She followed her studies with Olga Zhukova at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, with Peter Solymos, at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and, on a scholarship from the Alexander Onassis Foundati on, at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, USA, with the highly infl uencial teacher György Sebok. She has also taken lessons from Alfred Brendel.

K. Szymanowski - Piano Works [COMPACT DISCS] date 02/26/2008

The artists presented on this - Jan Ekier and Karol Szymanowski - were united by a fascination with Chopin's music, as well as inspiration from folk music, particularly the highlander folklore. Szymanowski's influence on the entirety of the Polish music was not to be overestimated and it also left it's mark on the artistic sensitivity of young Ekier. In the '30s, the composer was appreciated by critics and audiences alike. He also occupies a particular place on the artistic path of a young pianist, Wojciech Pyrc, a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, and a laureate of numerous Polish and international competitions. On this , he interprets piano miniatures by Ekier, as well as Szymanowski's works, including the daunting and rarely performed Fantasy in C major, Op. 14.