2020-11-06

Paderewski was a great composer. Herdzin is a great improviser. The fusion of the worlds of these two musical giants has given rise to a new phenomenon, which we share with you today. On the 160th anniversary of the birth of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, it is time to prick up our ears to the most beautiful impressions on his music.
 

To say that Krzysztof Herdzin is a versatile musician and a demon for work is to say nothing. This pianist, composer, arranger, conductor and music producer feels equally at home in jazz (he has played in the ensembles of Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski and Zbigniew Namysłowski and is a band leader himself), contemporary music (for which he has received several nominations for the Polish record industry’s Fryderyk awards), film and theatre. He has also worked with the greatest stars of pop music. In a word, he must know something about audience needs that others don’t. It turns out that he also knows a thing or two about the compositions of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, as he discerned in them marvellous potential for jazz reinterpretations and bold improvisations. While remaining faithful to the spirit of the original works, including the famous Minuet in G, Herdzin not only gives a display of pianistic virtuosity, but also seeks a third path for the composer between the refined stiltedness of classical music and the exuberance and wit of jazz.

So what is Herdzin’s Paderewski like? Well, he is certainly universal, swashbuckling at times, played with passion and wit, and surprisingly current – themes from more than a hundred years ago prove rewarding material for spinning out lively tales with references to contemporary music.

This is not a studio recording, but a live set – such hot music is not recorded in laboratory conditions! It was set down at a concert given on 23 November 2019 as part of the 11th International Ignacy Jan Paderewski Piano Competition organised by the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz. This disc is part of the REVISIONS series released on the ANAKLASIS label under the auspices of PWM.

It has been on sale since 6 November in PWM bookshops and on pwm.com.pl, and also on empik.com, swiatksiazki.pl and in good music stores.