New Release: Jan Lisiecki’s “Chopin: Works for Piano and Orchestra”

The newest album of 21-year-old Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki comes out today.

Lisiecki is joined by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Polish conductor Krzysztof Urbański for Chopin: Works for Piano and Orchestra. (Watch the trailer here). This marks Lisiecki’s fifth Deutsche Grammophon release. The recording moves beyond Chopin’s two concertos (which Lisiecki recorded in 2009) to an assortment of the composer’s smaller works for piano and orchestra: Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante in G Major/E-Flat Major, Op. 22, Variations on “La ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Op. 2, Fantasy on Polish Airs, Op. 13, and Rondo a la Krakowiak in F Major, Op. 14. 

The vast majority of Chopin’s output was for solo piano. In a recent interview, Jan Lisiecki shared some of his thoughts on the music:

I think Chopin felt the most comfortable writing for the piano, though it was not necessarily his favorite instrument. He was simply able to use it to its full potential and to express everything that he imagined in his mind. In many ways his writing for piano and orchestra is just and extension of that. It’s not symphonic writing. It’s not writing that uses the full potential of the orchestra. It’s his imagination for the piano enlarged by the writing with orchestra. It adds colors to the piano. We are given endless possibilities already at our instrument. But Chopin uses the capabilities of the winds and the strings, their richness, their sound quality to add to the piano’s possibilities and color palette. It’s a gift that he gave us with these orchestral pieces.

In a Mozart or Beethoven piano concerto if you removed the orchestra and told the pianist to play their part alone you’d be left with a bare bones structure. There would be some beautiful themes, some beautiful moments, and then there would be these very dull and uninspiring passages because you would be missing the core of the work. Now in Chopin if you take away the orchestra for the most part you would still end up with a fully-fledged and well-developed work. When the orchestra comes in it adds something- another layer- not instead of the piano, not in place of one of the piano themes or capabilities, but yet another relayer, and more beauty. 

The album opens with the quiet intimacy of the solo piano. Chopin placed this dreamy, solo Andante spianato, written in 1834, before the Grande Polonaise Brillante, which breaks the spell with a rousing horn fanfare:

Recordings

  • Chopin: Works for Piano and Orchestra, Jan Lisiecki, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Krzysztof Urbański iTunes
  • Jan Lisiecki’s complete discography iTunes
  • Mike Goldberg’s recent Richmond Public Radio interview with Jan Lisiecki

About Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa.

The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States.

A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals.

In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

Leave a Comment