The Mazurka is a traditional Polish dance in three-time with an often erratic-seeming emphasis on the second beat. It was Chopin who made of it the vehicle for some of his most intimately ruminative and also laconic utterances; he took this dance idiom even further into a world of human expression than he did with his waltzes—and thereby set a tradition that yields these ravishingly elusive masterpieces that gently exude all Szymanowski’s most subtle chromatic surprises and delights. They seem to encapsulate all we think of as Polish in sensibility as well as universal glimpses of irony and melancholy, energy and exuberance—often enough all in the gruff elegance of one piece!

Marc-André Hamelin continues his exclusive Hyperion voyage around the hidden coves and treasure troves of the piano repertoire with this important issue of pieces that will quickly win their way to the hearts of listeners new to their charms.