The Fryderyk Chopin Institute’s Blue Series, begun in 2010, featured portraits of the most interesting participants in the previous Chopin Competition. Shortly, it will release recordings of the best pianists from this year’s edition of the competition. However, the label would like to expand the series a big, for the first time recalling exceptional Competition events from years past. Andrzej Czajkowski’s performances at the 1955 Competition definitely numbered among those events. At the time, he won a mere 8th Prize; but a year later, together with Vladimir Ashkenazy, he triumphed in Brussels at the Queen Elizabeth Competition, thereby beginning a brilliant international career. Were he still alive today, Andrzej Czajkowski would be 80 years old; he is presently being rediscovered by the whole world, not only as one of the 20th century’s most interesting pianists, but also as a distinguished composer of, among other works, a Piano Concerto which has been presented at the Chopin and His Europe festival; the opera The Merchant of Venice, and many solo and chamber works.
