Jonathan Plowright - Paderewski: Piano Sonata & Variations

Approaching 150 years since the birth of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860�1941) there remains a certain ambivalence about his legacy. Should he be judged primarily as a pianist or as a composer-pianist? The three works on this disc make the strongest possible case for the latter. The large-scale Piano Sonata in E flat minor, Op 21, is a powerful, turbulent work, showing the composer�s affinity with Rachmaninov in its passion and extreme technical difficulty, contrasting on occasion with writing of affecting simplicity.The brilliant Jonathan Plowright is the ideal apologist for this music�a keen advocate of the Polish Romantic repertoire, possessed of the highest qualities of technique and interpretation.