This edition is of special significance for several reasons. It represents the first time that Chopin’s works were recorded on an historical instrument by a single artist. More importantly, however, it constitutes both the climax and the final accent in Tatiana Shebanova’s phonographic output; it is to this set of recordings that the career and performance style of this outstanding pianist appear to lead. When she encountered the fortepiano, all of Shebanova’s qualities—her natural sensitivity to timbre, her exceptional ability to selectively and cogently shape the texture of
a work, her reverence for the composer’s text—gained new energy. This occurred quite late, when Shebanova already held a solid position on the world’s major concert platforms and had a very extensive repertoire at her disposal. It actually happened too late: fate decreed that this new love had only a few years to develop. Awareness of the ineluctable course of events prompted her to muster her forces and take on her dream project of recording the complete works of Chopin on his instrument.

Grzegorz Michalski

CD 1 – NIFCCD 121

Fryderyk Chopin Utwory młodzieńcze / Youthful works (1817–1827)

CD 2 – NIFCCD 122

Fryderyk Chopin Utwory młodzieńcze / Youthful works (1827–1830)

CD 3 – NIFCCD 123 Fryderyk Chopin

Między Warszawą a Paryżem / Between Paris and Warsaw (1829–1831)

CD 4 – NIFCCD 124

Fryderyk Chopin Okres Paryski / Paris (1831–1833)

CD 5 – NIFCCD 125

Fryderyk Chopin Okres Paryski / Paris (1833–1836)

CD 6 – NIFCCD 126

Fryderyk Chopin Okres Paryski / Paris (1835–1837)

CD 7 – NIFCCD 127

Fryderyk Chopin Paryż, Majorka / Paris, Majorca (1837–1839)

CD 8 – NIFCCD 128

Fryderyk Chopin Majorka, Nohant / Majorca, Nohant (1838–1839)

CD 9 – NIFCCD 129

Fryderyk Chopin Paryż, Nohant / Paris, Nohant (1840–1841)

CD 10 – NIFCCD 130

Fryderyk Chopin Ostatni okres twórczości/ Last period (1833-1842)

CD 11 – NIFCCD 131

Fryderyk Chopin Ostatni okres twórczości / Last period (1843–1844)

CD 12 – NIFCCD 132

Fryderyk Chopin Ostatni okres twórczości / Last period (1845–1849)

CD 13 – NIFCCD 133

Fryderyk Chopin Utwory z orkiestrę / Works with orchestra

CD 14 – NIFCCD 134

Fryderyk Chopin Koncerty fortepianowe / Piano concertos (1829–1830)