New CD album’s in ‘Blue Series’

If we consider the beginning of Lidia Grychtołówna’s international career to be her seventh prize at the 5th Chopin Competition (1955), then current year we can celebrate the 70th anniversary of this distinguished doyenne of the Polish piano school.

The Chopin Competition was the first in a series of prestigious music tournaments in which the artist received awards – in 1956, she won third prize at the International Robert Schumann Piano Competition in Berlin, and in 1958 and 1959 – special prizes in Bolzano (Busoni Competition) and Rio de Janeiro. In 1955, in Warsaw, she was also particularly singled out by the legendary Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, then a member of the jury. Convinced that Grychtołówna deserved a higher place, he refused to sign the jury’s decision in protest and invited her to Italy to participate in his master classes. 

The pianist filled publicity with admiration not only because her piano skills but also – distinctive personality – in a 1970 review in Diapason magazine, one critic compared her temperament to the individuality of Martha Argerich, while also juxtaposing the qualities of sounds brought by her out of the keyboard with the style of Vladimir Horowitz.

In 2025, Lidia Grychtołówna, making a noble gesture, agreed to accept the symbolic role of honorary member of the jury of the 19th Chopin Competition.

Paying tribute to the Maestra, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute has published recordings of her performances during the 1955 Chopin Competition – the album is being released as part of the ‘Blue Series,’ initiated in 2010, which includes historical and contemporary recordings of the Competition’s most interesting personalities. From among the works performed by Grychtołówna at the Competition, three etudes (Op. 25 Nos. 3 and 6, Op. 10 No. 4), two mazurkas (from Op. 44 and 33), the Nocturne in F major from Op. 15, the Scherzo in B minor, the Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 45, the Polonaise-Fantasia and the Concerto in E minor were selected for the album (the National Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Arnold Rezler).

We release also in ‘Blue Series’ a CD with Mitsuko Uchida’s competition recordings. Renowned for her impeccable interpretations of works ranging from Mozart, through Schumann and Beethoven, to Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, and György Kurtág, the Japanese pianist and conductor won second prize in the 8th Chopin Competition in 1970, finishing on the podium behind winner Garrick Ohlsson. Reviewers at the time emphasized the high sonic refinement and almost classical discipline of her playing, combined with poetic inventiveness (some critics, in fact, demonstrated the same inventiveness – Wojciech Jędrzejczak, writing in Ruch Muzyczny, compared the artist to a flower, the most magnificent in a bouquet of Japanese participants). The double album we are presenting to you contains a performance of the Concerto in E minor, with which Uchida – playing with the accompaniment of the National Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Andrzej Markowski – made the greatest impression during the Competition, as well as her interpretations of the Nocturne in B major, Op. 62, No. 1, the Barcarolle, three etudes: Nos. 2 and 8 from Op. 10 and 5 from Op. 25, the Polonaise in F sharp minor, Op. 44, the Scherzo in E major, Op. 54, the Sonata in B flat minor, and the Mazurkas, Op. 50.

From the same year comes an album with interpretations of Janusz Olejniczak – released simultaneously in a new series of vinyl records. 

‘Janusz Olejniczak gained fame as one of Poland’s finest talents and has been acclaimed in many countries all over the world,’ Janusz Ekiert summarized in his concise publication on the history of the Chopin Competition in 2010. In the 8th edition (1970), the 18-year-old pianist (who celebrated his birthday just four days before the inauguration of the Competition!) took sixth place and became an undisputed audience favourite – admirers of his talent demonstrated their enthusiasm in various, even very unconventional, ways; among particularly original ideas was presenting the young Chopinist with a wire-haired fox terrier.

The album contains Olejniczak’s most beautiful competition performances from the first and second rounds, as well as the final. It includes Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1, Ballade in F major, three etudes (Op. 10 No. 8 and from Op. 25 – Nos. 3 and 10), Scherzo No. 1, Sonata No. 2, Mazurkas Op. 17, Polonaise in A-flat major Op. 53, and Piano Concerto No. 2.

Revealed in 1970, the great artist’s talent and unique playing style developed rapidly in the following years, and Olejniczak’s versatility allowed him to make a name for himself not only in broadly defined high culture – when, transcending classical music, he participated in projects involving jazz and folk music – but also in popular culture – particularly in film: he played Chopin in Andrzej Żuławski’s ‘La note bleue’ and recorded the soundtracks for Jerzy Antczak’s ‘Desire for Love’ and Roman Polański’s ‘The Pianist.’ 

Finally, we fortify ‘Blue Series’ with an album of recordings of Mihaela Ursuleasa’s performances. In 2000, although she didn’t make it to the finals, she captivated the audiences of the 14th Chopin Competition – a special award was given to her by listeners of Polish Radio Programme 2. Summing up her competition performances, Janusz Ekiert noted that Ursuleasa, admired on world stages since childhood, was distinguished by her ‘technical fluency, her faultless playing […], pearly, perfectly balanced scales and passages, thundering processions of chords, singing tone, phrasing and breaths, her free rhythmic balance, charm, and dramatic tension.’ The CD being released now includes two etudes (op. 10 no. 1 and op. 25 no. 6), the Nocturne in C minor op. 48 no. 1, the Third Ballade, the Third Scherzo, the Berceuse, the first Waltz from op. 34, the Andante spianato and the Grande Polonaise brillante, the op. 59 mazurkas, and the Sonata in B minor.

The charismatic pianist from Romania, also in subsequent years known for her fiery and energetic performances, died suddenly in 2012 at the age of just 34.