Rafal Blechacz

Rafal Blechacz – Frédéric Chopin : Polonaises (2013/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:45 minutes | 978 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Eight years and a series of high-profile discs and recitals since he won all the prizes at the 2005 Chopin piano competition in Warsaw, Rafal Blechacz is still difficult to assess. Alongside the kind of playing that must have won him so many admirers, such as the disc of Szymanowski and Debussy that he released last year, there have been others that have left a more mixed impression, and this latest Chopin selection belongs in the second category. The way he drives through some of the pieces with an unvaryingly loud, rather crude sound and four-square phrasing is offputting; even in pieces that are treated a little more subtly, such as the Polonaise-Fantaisie Op 61, his grandstanding way of building climaxes remains unattractive. A hugely disappointing disc.

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Rafal Blechacz – Johann Sebastian Bach (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:52 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Celebrated by his Chopin awarded recordings and cited by critics as one of those talents that only come along every few decades – has now turned to Bach. The now 31-year-old winner of the 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition, has been immersed in Bach since his childhood and has cultivated a strikingly natural eloquence in his mature interpretations of the composer’s keyboard works.

This is the perfect album to show his versatility and fine knowledge of the works of the composer.

Rafal’s interpretation flows not least from his formative experience as an organist. Young Rafał cut his musical teeth on Bach’s principal instrument, playing organ for several years before turning full time to piano. In addition to playing for services at the main church in his hometown of Nakło nad Notecią, he also gave occasional recitals there long after becoming a pianist.

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Rafał Blechacz – Chopin (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:44 minutes | 1,05 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Rafal Blechacz has been deeply associated with the music of Fryderyk Chopin across his whole career. His devotion to the music of his great compatriot began long before 2005 when he won the Warsaw Chopin Competition. Blechacz complements the two large works with Chopin’s haunting F sharp minor Nocturne and his exquisite Barcarolle. On the recording he has placed the Nocturne in F sharp minor op. 48/2 between the sonatas and added the Barcarolle to conclude the album. He points to a particular harmonic progression which is shared between the restless, foreboding Nocturne and a moment in the Sonata No. 2’s first movement (‘one bar is almost exactly the same,’ he says). As for the Sonata No. 3 and the Barcarolle, these share the powerful influence of Italian bel canto opera, which had been crucial to Chopin ever since his student days in Warsaw, when he fell in love with a young singer; he remained passionate about opera for the rest of his life.

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Rafal Blechacz – Chopin: Polonaises (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:45 minutes | 980 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Rafal Blechacz’ recital of Chopin’s Polonaises will be welcomed by his large number of fans, who have eagerly awaited this release. Blechacz’s way with Polonaises will be a landmark recording of this highly emotional, popular and poetic music. The recording will include seven Polonaises, one of which is the Polonaise No. 7 in A flat major, op. 61 “Polonaise Fantaisie”. He is one of Deutsche Grammophon’s best-selling young artists – his stunning albums have sold more than 180,000 units worldwide.

His last album, featuring Debussy and Blechacz’s compatriot Szymanowski was named winner of the “Best Classical Album of the Year” at the Polish Fryderyk Awards and went Gold in his native country within a week of release in February 2012.

Composer: Frédéric Chopin
Performer: Rafal Blechacz

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