Rafal Blechacz - Mazurkas by Frederic Chopin - Music Box, October 27th, 2025

An album released on October 17th, 2025: Mazurkas by Frederic Chopin, performed by the Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz - more precisely, a selection of mazurkas performed by the pianist who, in 2005, won the First Prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

I have reflected on the importance of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw during this year's George Enescu International Festival - because I listened to several former winners of this competition, artists who are now truly established figures on the world's great concert stages. This includes Asian or Asian-origin artists, whom we often see winning competitions but more rarely managing to establish themselves on major European and American stages. Martha Argerich in 1965, Rafał Blechacz in 2005, Seong-Jin Cho in 2015, Bruce Liu in 2021; among recent winners, only Yulianna Avdeeva, the 2010 Chopin Competition laureate, was not invited to Bucharest for the 2025 Enescu Festival.

The Chopin Competition is truly important and highly relevant: held once every five years, it brings to light names that go on to become stars of the international piano scene - a reputation confirmed over time. The 2025 Chopin Competition concluded just last week, on October 23rd. Among the required works for the third round were also Chopin's mazurkas - repertoire that Rafał Blechacz himself performed 20 years ago.

On October 20th, 2025, the results of the 19^th edition of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw were announced. Rafal Blechacz, who had won 20 years earlier in 2005, was also among the laureates of this prestigious contest. The 2025 finals featured 11 pianists: one from Poland, one from Canada, one from Georgia, two from Japan, three from China, one from Malaysia, and two from the USA - nine of them Asian or of Asian descent. The winner was the 27-year-old American pianist of Chinese origin, Eric Lu, who had previously won fourth prize in the same competition ten years ago.

Today, the winner of the Chopin Competition also benefits from the release of some of their recordings made during the competition by Deutsche Grammophon. Both Seong-Jin Cho and Bruce Liu have enjoyed this privilege, and Eric Lu will also share this professional distinction - Deutsche Grammophon has already officially announced it.

For Rafal Blechacz, the 2005 winner of the Chopin Competition, his collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon began with the release of Chopin's Preludes in 2007 and continued with seven more albums, most of them also dedicated to Chopin's music: the two concertos, the Polonaises, Sonatas No. 2 and No. 3, and now the Mazurkas.

Performing Chopin's music is a difficult endeavor - it was challenging in the past and is even more so today, after so many recordings of his works have been made. It's difficult because even the slightest trace of kitsch can trivialize this music - and in an age when kitsch has almost become the norm, Chopin's music finds it harder to meet ideal interpreters. It is poetry, but also discipline; technically challenging, but success doesn't come from playing fast and loud. It may sometimes seem simple, yet it hides many layers of meaning. Contrary to expectations, it demands deep reflection, historical knowledge, and intellectual inquiry.

Without placing himself in the spotlight, Rafal Blechacz succeeds - through his interpretation of the mazurkas on this album - in placing Chopin's music front and center: the music of a man who clearly loved his homeland. The mazurkas speak of the pride and resilience of the Polish people who have endured through history, Rafal Blechacz tells this story without pomp or artifice.