The Pianist (World Premiere Recording) [MP3]
The Pianist: World Premiere Recording – based on the new musical stage adaptation of Wladyslaw Szpilman’s internationally acclaimed memoir, the basis of Roman Polanski’s Academy Award-winning film. This a landmark new show written and directed by Thom Southerland (Titanic the Musical) brings Szpilman’s story and music together for the first time, featuring Szpilman’s own compositions with new musical arrangements by Simon Lee. Lee also serves as album producer. Malcolm Forbes-Peckham is the album’s associate producer, serves as music director, and is featured as The Pianist.
In The Pianist, a cast of virtuoso actor-musicians conjures the golden age of Jewish Warsaw in all its warmth and wit: the packed concert halls, the candlelit cafés, the irrepressible spirit of a city that loved music above all else. Original compositions from the so-called “Polish Gershwin” score his story: popular songs that had Warsaw humming, compositions that made him a star.
At its heart, this is a love letter to culture, to the artists and dreamers who carried it, and to the extraordinary power of creativity to outlast even the most turbulent chapters of history. Szpilman's music doesn't merely accompany this story; it breathes life into it, binding past to present and reminding us that some things, once made, can never truly be silenced.
The Pianist features new lyrics by an international group of writers and musicians, bringing fresh voice to Szpilman’s original compositions. The lyricists and songwriters include two-time Grammy Award nominee Carol Connors, acclaimed songwriter David Batteau, jazz singer Wendy Lands and collaborator Jim Gillard, Grammy nominee Michael Ruff, Drama Desk nominee Marcy Heisler, and Szpilman’s son Andreas Szpilman. Together, their work allows Szpilman’s music to sit at the heart of the production, not simply as accompaniment, but as another voice in the telling of his story.
Best known worldwide through his memoir and the Academy Award-winning film it is based on, Wladyslaw Szpilman was not only a Holocaust survivor, but one of Poland’s most celebrated composers and pianists.
The album features performances by John Addison, George Arvidson, Fra Fee, Emily George, Kate Graham, Joanna Hickman, Abi Hudson, Daniel Krikler, Adam Linstead, Mark Meadows, Niamh Perry, and Tom Ping.
A Center Stage Records Release