Chopin: Mazurka in C major Op. 56 No. 2 - Henryk Sztompka, 1954 - Muza SXL 0094

Henryk Sztompka (1901 - 1964) was a Polish pianist. Sztompka studied the piano with Antoni Sygietyński and with Józef Turczyński in Warsaw. After graduating with honors from the Warsaw Conservatory in 1926, he made his debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic in Rachmaninoff’s second concerto. He received the prize for the best interpretation of Chopin’s mazurkas at the first International Chopin Piano Competition in 1927. And in 1928, by which advanced age so many young virtuosi have already seen their lights extinguished, he went to Paris to study with Paderewski. It is not clear to me how long Henryk Sztompka studied with Paderewski, but he did not make his Paris debut until 1932 (in his teacher’s Polish Fantasy) under Gabriel Pierné and the Colonne Orchestra. Later that same year a successful recital consisting of the works of Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann seemed to have launched his concert career until it was interrupted by the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.