Classical Music in Poland and the Europe of Chopin - From the Reviewer's Notebook

The Royal Castle in Warsaw offered a spectacular backdrop to President Joe Biden and the Polish President Andrzej Duda who addressed thousands of Poles in the castle gardens on the Vistula River (Associated Press) U.S. President Joe Biden stands onstage with children waving flags after he delivered remarks ahead of the one year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, outside the Royal Castle, in Warsaw, Poland, February 21, 2023 ( Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters ) This remarkable visit was of great symbolic significance to me as I have watched this valiant nation once again implement their immortal Polish battle cry though the ages 'For your freedom and ours!' The distinguished publisher  Granta released my literary travel book on Poland in 2008. It covered my period working and my cultural explorations in Warsaw and further afield during the period of transition from  the Soviet hegemony   t o the so-called market economy  in the early 1990s, following  the fall of the Berlin

Just to highly recommend this absolute treasure chest of revelatory Chopin Mazurkas released by the National Chopin Institute. I could not possibly review every one of these outstanding performances but each is an eloquent and idiomatic approach. Historical recordings to the present. This two-album release of 'Best Mazurkas' is a collection of Chopin's most intimate works in the interpretations of the prizewinners of the prestigious and perceptive Polish Radio Award for the best performance of mazurkas in the International Chopin Competition. The recordings are an interesting perspective, a multitude of interpretations of the Polish idiom in those fascinating pieces; performances of artists who sometimes come from very distant cultures surprise us with their freshness despite time irresistibly passing. They are frequently a new reading of the composer's intentions. Great and important names of the world pianism are all to be found on this one blue release: Henryk Sztomp