Rafał Blechacz has been deeply associated with the music of Fryderyk Chopin across his whole career. His devotion to the music of his great compatriot began long before 2005 when he won the Warsaw Chopin Competition. Blechacz complements the two large works with Chopin’s haunting F sharp minor Nocturne and his exquisite Barcarolle.

On the recording he has placed the Nocturne in F sharp minor, op.48 no.2, between the sonatas and added the Barcarolle to conclude the album. He points to a particular harmonic progression which is shared between the restless, foreboding Nocturne and a moment in the Sonata no.2’s first movement (‘one bar is almost exactly the same,’ he says). As for the Sonata no.3 and the Barcarolle, these share the powerful influence of Italian bel canto opera, which had been crucial to Chopin ever since his student days in Warsaw, when he fell in love with a young singer; he remained passionate about opera for the rest of his life.