A returning treasure from the East, Ronan Magill has been successfully performing concerts and delighting Japanese audiences, where he has been resident for many years. Admired for his amazing natural musicality and ability to improvise almost anything on the piano, Benjamin Britten and others inspired him as a young man to reach the wonderful musical maturity and insight that his performances now exhibit in profusion! We welcome him back to England with this new release! There is no doubt that the Mazurkas of Frederic Chopin contain some of his most personal and private utterances, and it was a form he returned to more than any other for his entire life. The Mazurka was a series of folk dances in triple time that originated in the province of Mazovia in north-eastern Poland in the early nineteenth century. Essentially, they are: 1) the Mazur, a lively dance with accents on the 2nd or 3rd beat, 2) the Kujawiak, a slow dance, romantic and/or melancholic, and 3) the Oberek, a fast foot stamping dance. As a child, I was captivated by these pieces when I heard my Father play them, and I am delighted to be able to share and explore them on this disc.
