Piotr Anderszewski, the leading Polish-born pianist of his generation, has recorded a newly rediscovered waltz by Frederic Chopin, Poland’s greatest composer. The waltz now features on a digital album with a selection of Chopin mazurkas, also performed by Anderszewski.
The haunting miniature waltz in the key of A minor, which runs for 48 bars and little more than a minute, is thought to date from the early 1830s. Chopin, born not far from Warsaw in 1810, settled in Paris in 1831. The manuscript came to light recently in the collections of New York’s Morgan Library, where it was found by Dr Robinson McClellan. Its authenticity was then verified by Professor Jeffrey Kallberg of the University of Pennsylvania, a leading expert on Chopin.
As Piotr Anderszewski has said: “Chopin is the composer I know the best of all composers. After all, I was raised in Poland. I was steeped in Chopin's music.”
He describes his response to this ‘new’ Chopin waltz:
“I was spending a few days in Warsaw when I heard about the discovery of this little waltz in A minor by Chopin, found somewhat by chance in New York. Looking at the manuscript, it was extraordinary to be reading through a page of Chopin that I had never heard. I felt carried away by the sudden modulation into C major towards the end.”
The accompanying mazurkas come from a highly praised Chopin album that Piotr Anderszewski released in 2003. As Gramophone magazine’s reviewer wrote: “I can think of few instances where the letter and spirit of the composer are so flawlessly united ... Here, in this great young pianist's incomparable hands … is living proof that Chopin's music is forever new, forever revelatory.”
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