Wladyslaw Szpilman - "The Pianist"

Wladyslaw Szpilman's miraculous survival of the Warsaw Ghetto is the subject of Roman Polanski's film "The Pianist". However, Szpilman was also a popular composer. He wrote about 500 songs many of which are still evergreens of Polish pop culture. This Songbook contains a selection of 16 songs with newly commissioned English lyrics. Some of them can be heard on the new Wendy Lands CD.

Widely known as a pianist and composer of popular music, Wladyslaw Szpilman - subject of Roman Polanski's film "The Pianist" - also wrote some works for the concert hall. Having been a student of Franz Schreker, his amalgamation of serious and popular music is rooted in the stylistic tradition of the twenties. In addition to a piano suite "The Life of the Machines" Szpilman wrote five shorter orchestral works and a "Concertino" for piano and orchestra, completed in 1940 in the Warsaw Ghetto. Publishing Autumn 2003.