In 2002, 17-year-old Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz won second prize in the Artur Rubinstein Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The next year, he won first prize in the Fourth International Hamamatsu Piano Competition in Hamamatsu, Japan. The year after that he won the Grand Prix at the International Piano Competition in Rabat, Morocco. The year after that, however, Blechacz hit the quintfecta at the age of 20 by taking all five top prizes at the 15th International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw: first ...
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In 2002, 17-year-old Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz won second prize in the Artur Rubinstein Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The next year, he won first prize in the Fourth International Hamamatsu Piano Competition in Hamamatsu, Japan. The year after that he won the Grand Prix at the International Piano Competition in Rabat, Morocco. The year after that, however, Blechacz hit the quintfecta at the age of 20 by taking all five top prizes at the 15th International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw: first prizes in polonaise, mazurka, sonata, and concerto, plus grand prize overall. Listening to these three discs of his four performances at the competition, one can readily understand why: the international jury recognized Blechacz as a natural-born Chopin player. He's not a note-perfect Chopin player -- there are slips and slides here and there -- but he is a nearly ideal Chopin player. As these performances reveal, Blechacz has technique to burn -- aside from the rare slips and slides,...
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