The late Polish pianist Władysław Kędra (1918-1968) is soloist in this recording of Chopin's Variations on "La ci darem la mano" ((Wariacje na Temat "La Ci Darem La Mano"), Op. 2. Witold Rowicki (1914-1998) conducts the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Władysław Kędra - pianista polski, laureat Międzynarodowego Konkursu Pianistycznego w Genewie w 1946, zdobywca V miejsca na IV Międzynarodowym Konkursie Pianistycznym im. Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie (1949). Był wybitnym wykonawcą utworów Fryderyka Chopina i Franciszka Liszta. Nauczał po II wojnie światowej na katedrze pianistyki w Konserwatorium w Łodzi. Zmarł przedwcześnie na chorobę nowotworową. Witold Rowicki, właściwie Witold Kałka, polski dyrygent, pedagog, organizator życia muzycznego, propagator muzyki. Studiował przed II wojną światową w Konserwatorium Towarzystwa Muzycznego w Krakowie przedmioty: skrzypce u Artura Malawskiego i teorię u dyrektora M. Piotrowskiego. Witold Rowicki był w grupie trzech najzdolniejszych studentów, którzy otrzymali stypendium państwowe (75 zł miesięcznie). Studenci wykonywali koncerty dla Polskiego Radia w Krakowie. Po II wojnie światowej organizował i był kierownikiem artystycznym oraz I dyrygentem Wielkiej Orkiestry Symfonicznej Polskiego Radia w Katowicach, a od 1950 r. dyrektorem artystycznym Orkiestry Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie, z którą odbył liczne tournées zagraniczne.
The Variations in B flat major on ‘Là ci darem la mano’, Op. 2 are Chopin’s characteristic reaction to Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Thanks to these Variations, Chopin’s fame spread across central Europe. They first moved Robert Schumann, whose youthful review – the first that he wrote – in a Leipzig music periodical, entitled ‘Opus Zwei’ [Opus 2], has acquired a lasting place in music history. That review was written in a fictional style (a device that Schumann would frequently employ): ‘Eusebius came in quietly the other day. You know the ironic smile on his pale face with which he seeks to create suspense. I was sitting at the piano with Florestan. Florestan is, as you know, one of those rare musical minds which anticipate, as it were, that which is new and extraordinary. Today, however, he was surprised. With the words, “Hats off, gentlemen – a genius!” Eusebius laid a piece of music on the piano rack. […] Chopin – I have never heard the name – who can he be? […] every measure betrays his genius!’
Chopin composed the ‘Là ci darem’ Variations in 1827. As a student of the Main School of Music, he had received from Elsner another compositional task: he had to write variations for piano with orchestral accompaniment. As his theme, he chose the famous duet between Zerlina and Don Giovanni from the first act of Mozart’s opera – the one in which overwhelming power and faultless seduction meet maidenly naivety and barely controlled fascination.
Chopin’s ‘Là ci darem’ Variations received a Classical form: introduction, theme, five variations and finale. They were pianistically expressed through the style brillant, of which they became a wonderfully representative work. But at the same time they showed signs of romanticism in the air: it emerged with full force in the fifth variation, but Romantic accents had already appeared in the introduction.
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