Andrzej Wasowski

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Andrzej Wasowski (January 24, 1919 in Ukraine – May 27, 1993 in Washington DC) was a Polish classical pianist. We would know nothing of his playing were it not for the enterprise of a small US record company, Concord Records, who recorded Wasowski playing Chopin's complete mazurkas in 1980 and complete nocturnes in 1989. These recordings were hailed by critics. Bernard Sherman, reviewing the mazurkas for the New York Times described Wasowski as one of those artists the broad international public neglects but critics and colleagues rave about. Another critic, Charles Michener praised the Mazurkas as full-blooded and intoxicating, almost shocking in their use of rubato, the freedom with which they shake the pieces' rhythmic structures. Critical acclaim for the nocturnes (recorded in just two days, 30 September and 1 October 1989) was equally marked. The recording received the 1997 Critics Choice Award from National Public Radio, and the critic Jessica Duchen writing in BBC Music Magazine (May 1997) said These performances of the Chopin Nocturnes, recorded in 1989, are really rather extraordinary… a glorious singing tone of great clarity, eloquence and purity, with beautifully balanced accompaniment and inner voices… they moved me to tears. Wasowski's recordings show a novel approach to rhythm, especially in the mazurkas. Being familiar with the dances themselves, his readings are informed by the rhythmic conventions of Polish music, resulting in interpretations that differ

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