Chopin: The Piano Concertos

"…I would trade these richly satisfying accounts any day for others that lack the musical integrity and clarity of conception that Blechacz and Semkow bring to these works." Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

"…poised, elegant, with broad paragraphs and expressive details impeccably shaped." BBC Music Magazine, December 2009

"Rafal Blechacz won the 2005 Warsaw Chopin Competition and therefore has the right to play all the Chopin he desires. The balance of bravura and poetry Blechacz negotiates with pearly fervor, his upper register clearly without the over-bright "ping" that ruins many a piano inscription. I well like the move to the recapitulation, with Semkow's underlining the bass harmonies and insisting on clear articulation from the woodwinds." (**** AudAud.com)

After Rafal's hugely successful Deutsche Grammophon debut Chopin recording - almost 60,000 sold worldwide - music lovers await the unique interpretive contributions this winner of the 2005 International Chopin Competition will make to these two legendary concertos.

Pianist Rafal Blechacz, returning to his beloved Chopin, teams up with the supreme musicianship of the Concertgebouw Orchestra under conducting legend, Jerzy Semkow. Rafal's way with Concertos nos. 1 & 2 will be a landmark recording of this highly emotional, popular, and poetic music - a young master heralding Chopin's 200th birthday in 2010 with an early birthday gift we all will love.