Frederic Chopin: Ballades, Nocturnes and Waltzes

The famous Polish pianist Halina Czerny-Stefanska entered the world on 30 December 1922, in Cracow, into a family of musicians. In 1934, the Stanislaw Moniuszko Institute of Music in Warsaw launched a ‘Young Talents’ Music Competition. Following the auditions, held at the Warsaw Philharmonic, a jury led by the composer Eugeniusz Morawski, vice-chancellor of the Warsaw Conservatory, awarded Halina Czerny a diploma and a scholarship to study in Paris with the legendary pianist Alfred Cortot where she was Cortot’s youngest female student.

On the centenary of Chopin’s death (1949), the Fourth International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition was held in Warsaw where she was awarded the first prize and the Polish Radio prize for the best performance of mazurkas and at which, to this day, only works by Chopin are performed.

Halina Czerny-Stefanska launched her international career in 1949 with highly successful concerts in the UK (on 3 December, she gave a recital at the Wigmore Hall in London). Soon afterwards, she appeared in France. She gradually won the admiration of audiences everywhere, playing in the leading concert halls, with the finest symphony orchestras.

This disc is a treat for all music lovers and contains Halina Czerny-Stefanska’s beautiful, memorable interpretations, for which she was admired and esteemed the world over. The Chopin recital that she recorded in 1953 contains works which she played throughout her life, with which she made her name.

More than half a century has passed since these works were recorded. Although a great deal has changed, Halina Czerny-Stefanska’s playing remains timeless and striking, and a source of wonderful experiences.