Ignacy Paderewski (1860-1941)
Piano Concerto; Polish Fantasy on Original Themes; Overture

An internationally famous virtuoso pianist, President of the newly independent Republic of Poland, Honorary Doctor from Universities as far apart as Lemberg, Cracow, Oxford and Yale, Paderewski also had time to become one of Poland's leading Romantic composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although perhaps still a minor composer on the European standard of greatness, his music somehow fits neatly in the gap between his two other famous compatriots, Chopin and Szymanowski. Always attractive and sometimes rather more, this is music that reflects the patriotism of its countrymen as well as the rich sonorities of the time.

Ignacy Paderewski was born on 6th November, 1860 in the eastern part of Poland, in the small town of Kurylówka on the river San, close to the Ukrainian border. His mother died when he was at an early age and he soon b