Hyperion Records

The name of Aleksander Zarzycki (1834–1895) is barely known today and his music even less so. He played a significant role in the development of musical education in Warsaw, becoming the first director of the Warsaw Music Society in 1871 and later moving to the Music Institute in 1879, where among the teachers whom he engaged was Paderewski. He was also a fine pianist, having studied in Berlin in the mid-1850s before moving in 1857 to Paris (where Chopin had died just eight years earlier) to pursue his career as a composer. Three years into his studies, in the Salle Herz, he united both talents when he premiered two new compositions: the Grande Polonaise and Piano Concerto in A flat major.

from notes by Adrian Thomas © 2013