Polish pianist and conductor Krystian Zimerman was in London last October to receive his seventh Gramophone Award. While in the UK, he recorded a podcast for Gramophone Magazine with James Jolly, touching upon such wide-ranging subjects as the music of Karol Szymanowski, conducting and retirement.
The Gramophone Award honors his latest Deutsche Grammophon album, one of many recordings that Zimerman has made of music by his Polish compatriots during his long career as an exclusive DG artist. According to the DG website:
Zimerman’s most recent album – Karol Szymanowski: Piano Works – sees him return to his Polish roots to pay tribute to his compatriot on the 140th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Released on CD and digitally in September 2022, and on vinyl a month later, it features a series of richly varied solo works, ranging from some of the early Preludes Op. 1 and Variations on a Polish Folk Theme Op. 10 to Masques Op. 34, written during the First World War, and four of the Mazurkas Op. 50.
For a full list of discography, visit www.deutschegrammophon.com.
[Sources: gramophone.co.uk, deutschegrammophon.com]