The extreme delicacy and finesse of Chopin’s pianistic style was unusual in an era when star pianists such as Liszt and Anton Rubinstein were developing more virtuosic and experimental effects. It led some performers of the day to adapt Chopin’s works to suit the context of their time. Goran Filipec has traced the practices of these pianists to fashion a programme of Chopin’s works performed in the spirit of the ‘grand style’.

Chopin’s piano works are deservedly popular and have been widely recorded, but this new album from pianist Goran Filipec explores a now forgotten aspect of 19th-century performance style, in which pianists, while preserving the composer’s original ideas, were happy to give his works a more extrovert aspect in alignment with the more powerful Romantic repertoire in vogue at the time. This approach, while preserving the spirit of Chopin’s creative genius, provides a valuable glimpse into the flexibility with which pianists treated his works in this period, and a new angle on the ever-evolving search for all kinds of musical authenticity.

Widely renowned for his exceptional interpretations of the Romantic repertoire, Goran Filipec (b. Rijeka, 1981) is a pianist of fiery virtuosity and evocative pianistic style, often performing his own arrangements and adaptations. Initially a pupil of Evgeny Zarafiants and Oxana Yablonskaya, Filipec studied with Naum Grubert and Natalia Trull at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague and the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He also holds a PhD in music from Sorbonne Université and the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse of Paris.

Filipec’s recordings for Naxos have received significant critical acclaim, and his albums Paganini Studies (8573458) and Hungarian Fantasy (8573866) were awarded the International ‘Grand Prix du Disque F. Liszt’ by the Ferenc Liszt Society of Budapest. Other albums with Goran Filipec in our Liszt Complete Piano Music include Poems (8573794) which has been described as ‘nothing short of superb’ (Gramophone) and ‘Filipec is another prestidigital superman’ (Fanfare). Filipec has also recorded the Braga Santos Piano Concerto (8573903) in a release considered ‘a terrific disc full of wide-ranging music’ by ClassicsToday.com.