Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

• Praised by the Washington Post as "a musician in service to [Bach's] music, searching its depths, exploring its meaning and probing its possibilities", Rafal Blechacz, winner of the 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition, releases his first album for DG devoted to Bach

A new statement from Rafa Blechacz, one of the finest young pianists of his generation<br> <br>Celebrated by his Chopin awarded recordings and cited by critics as one of those talents that only come along every few decades - has now turned to Bach<br> <br>The now 31-year-old winner of the 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition, has been immersed in Bach since his childhood and has cultivated a strikingly natural eloquence in his mature interpretations of the composer's keyboard works. <br> <br>This is the perfect album to show his versatility and fine knowledge of the works of the composer <br> <br>Rafal's interpretation flows not least from his formative experience as an organist. Young Rafa cut his musical teeth on Bach s principal instrument, playing organ for several years before turning full time to piano. In addition to playing for services at the main church in his hometown of Nak o nad Noteci , he also gave occasional recitals there long after becoming a pianist. <br> I was fascinated by the organ, and many of my earliest musical memories are of listening to the organ in church, he recalls.<br> <br>This album includes some real hit pieces like the Italian Concerto, one of Blechacz s signature pieces (... his reading was, above all, a model of textural transparency Portland Press Herald ), and the Partita No. 1 (... it was immediately clear from the first sweet, liquid notes that Blechacz is a musician in service to the music, searching its depths, exploring its meaning and probing its possibilities Washington Post ) or Jesu Joy of Men s Desiring<br> <br>After a sabbatical in 2016 to finish his PhD in Philosophy in Poland, his schedule in 2017 will bring him to the USA, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, France and more.