In 2010 Katarzyna Borek has received award from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage's “Young Poland” for recording an album with the pieces of Ignacy Jan Paderewski. The release of the album is planned by SUBITO RECORDS on April 2011.
„The first time I have ever heard Paderewski's music was at the age of six, at a concert of a well-known Polish pianist. After the concert, when the audience had left - I tiptoed up to the grand piano and imagined that I could play all those beautiful "melodies". My dreams have come true. I played some of those pieces seven years later during the Polish Paderewski Competition. After a few years, I became a laureate of the International Paderewski Competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland. I had the opportunity to perform most of the pieces from this CD in numerous concerts in Poland and abroad. According to the opinions gathered after many of the performances, the audience finds Paderewski's music very intriguing and the Variations and Fugue in E flat minor op.23 is regarded as a perfect illustration of the troubled times during which it was composed. I find each of the recorded pieces represent a different picture of that reality - beginning from an innocent joke and careless fun to the echoes of uprisings and the impeding historical changes intertwined with multinational accents and even battle scenes. A careful listener who is also interested in history will surely appreciate these traits of Paderewski's music. I would like the listener to focus his attention on the Variations and Fugue in E flat minor op.23 - the piece has rarely been performed, despite its great value. I would like to close with a special thanks and expression of gratitude to Leszek Możdżer – a great man and artist, who invited me to record in his „Studio 701” in Wrocław”.
Katarzyna Borek
PROGRAMME:
Menuet in G major in "Humoresques de Concert" op.14
Burlesque from "Humoresques de Concert" op.14
Legende in A flat major from "Miscellanea" op.16
Polonaise in B major op.9 from "Polish Dances"
Nocturne in B flat major from "Miscellanea" op.16
Variations and Fugue in E flat minor op.23
Most of the above pieces have been in Katarzyna Borek's repertoire for many years. She has presented these works in Poland in numerous concerts organised by the Paderewski in Memoriam Foundation in Warsaw as well as abroad. She's a laureate of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Competition in Piotrków Trybunalski, where she has received the 1st prize. She has also received the Prize for the best performance of Paderewski's works founded by dr. Paderewska-Chrościcka.
For the performance of "Variations and Fugue in E flat minor", which is included in the album, Katarzyna Borek has received the Special Prize in the International Paderewski Competition in Bydgoszcz (1998). She has also received the 3rd Prize and the Prize for the best Polish performer during the same competition.