Chopin was born on this day in 1810 – or at least this day is what is generally referred to as his birthday: although February 22nd was apparently entered in the baptismal register, March 1st is when his family celebrated his birthday.  Regardless of his exact date, Chopin’s music continues to be celebrated around the world over two centuries after his birth, his innovative piano compositions being prized by pianists and piano lovers more than any other composer’s.

As there are so many valid ways of playing great music and because so many superlative pianists have recorded Chopin’s works since the dawn of recording technology in the late 19th century, I thought it would be interesting to hear a selection of historical recordings of his works played by a variety of pianists with unique approaches to the his style. While a truly comprehensive study of approaches to Chopin interpretation would warrant listening to hours of recordings by scores of pianists, in the interests of brevity and accessibility, today’s birthday celebration will feature thirteen pianists in thirteen genres of piano compositions (a baker’s dozen for his birthday cake). This is not a chronological list of the greatest Chopin recordings and the absence of a pianist or recording from this selection in no way renders it less valuable than the ones featured here – this is simply an array of some of the greatest pianists of yesteryear in some of their marvellous Chopin recordings.

Polish pianist Josef Hofmann was one of the true originals of the keyboard, a titanic pianist trained in the great Romantic tradition who was before the public for over half a century. While he made among the first piano recordings as a child prodigy and young adult, his later performances consist entirely of test pressings and broadcast performances, the latter being the only opportunity to hear him in larger-scale repertoire. This April 1938 performance of Chopin’s Andante Spianato and Polonaise Op.22 comes from one of the final concerts in his Golden Jubilee season (he played Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto at the same concert) and is even freer and more expansive than his more streamlined reading at his Golden Jubilee Recital celebration at the Metropolitan Opera House a few months earlier – inimitable tone, kaleidoscopic colour, arched phrasing, and magical rubato.

Another great Polish pianist was Ignaz Friedman, whose November 23, 1936 recording of the incredibly challenging Nocturne in E-Flat Major Op.55 No.2 is considered one of the greatest of all Chopin recordings. Despite his fame during his lifetime, Columbia records did not issue a single commemorative LP of the pianist in the decades after his death – fortunately Friedman now holds his deserved status in the pantheon of pianists. His evocative tonal colours, layered voicing, magical pedal effects, sensuous phrasing, and multi-dimensional nuancing have long made this a performance that is considered one of the finest example of exalted pianism ever captured on record.

Liszt’s pupil Moriz Rosenthal was also a Chopin interpreter of the highest order but regrettably put only a small portion of his repertoire on gramophone records. Although he made a commercial recording of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto Op.11 in 1930 for the Parlophone label, this 75th birthday concert broadcast – from December 19, 1937 – features a performance of the Romanze of that E Minor Concerto that gives us a better of idea of his tonal colours, poised phrasing, and wonderful sense of timing.

Russian composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff was a brilliant composer in his own right but excelled as a pianist, justly famous for his readings of Chopin. His capacity to stretch a line and peak a phrase to draw out emotion without lapsing into sentimentality is utterly remarkable, and he was capable of performances that were both deep and wistful. His marvellous reading of Chopin’s Waltz in C-Sharp Minor Op.64 No.2 features a gorgeous touch, insightful highlighting of secondary voicing, probing phrasing, and extraordinarily conceived rubato.

The ever elegant Russian pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch always delivered patrician performances that were both profound and elegant. His March 17, 1939 recording of Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major Op.60 features a beautifully polished sonority regardless of how softly or loud he plays, burnished melodic lines, refined phrasing, and wonderful pedal control.

Mischa Levitzki was a Polish pianist who died young and left just a few hours of recordings, the better of which reveal his gorgeous singing sonority (‘every note shone like a moonbeam’ wrote Josef Hofmann’s pupil Abram Chasins), rhythmic vitality, and beautifully proportioned rubato. In this November 21, 1929 disc of three Chopin Preludes Op.28 (Nos. 1, 7, and 23 – the first and last ones are each repeated), we hear his robust rhythm, poised voicing, magnificent tonal palette, and elegant timing.

Simon Barere was a Russian virtuoso with the most astounding technique, playing with astonishing dexterity while sustaining purity of tone. As a result, he is sometimes dismissed as superficial, but his musical imagination and poetic pianism could fuse in performances like this October 10, 1935 HMV recording of Chopin’s Scherzo No.3 in C-Sharp Minor Op.39. His dramatic treatment of the opening figurations is extremely convincing, and the melodic line is always sustained even as filigree fingerwork is despatched with breathtaking speed and lightness.

The British pianist Solomon recorded just over an hour’s worth of Chopin on 78rpm discs but not a note of the composer’s music in the LP era, and while he continues to be more known for his interpretations of Classical compositions, Solomon’s readings of the Romantic repertoire are exceptional for their clarity, vitality, and poise. His incisive rhythm in the ‘Military’ Polonaise in A Major Op.40 No.1 is robust without being strident, his attack firm without his beautiful tone ever degrading into harshness – a heroic and very idiomatic performance of a one of the composer’s most popular works.

The Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti is celebrated for his 1950 traversal of Chopin’s Waltzes, recorded just a few months before his death of Hodgkins Disease at the age of 33. However, his earlier studio recordings and his concert performances reveal an even more expansive tonal palette and degree of pianistic mastery. At a February 7, 1950 performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 he also played three solo works: the D-Flat Nocturne Op.27 No.2 and two Etudes, Op.25 No.5 and Op.10 No.5. A high-fidelity tape of the two Etudes was found but the Nocturne comes from a lower-quality source, but the playing is nevertheless remarkable, more expansive than his studio account of the same work. The Etudes are probably the best-sounding Lipatti recording discovered thus far, capturing his glistening sonority, mastery of pedal technique, exquisitely coordinated phrasing, and elegant timing.

French piano legend Alfred Cortot had a four-decade relationship with the gramophone, and his cycles of Chopin Etudes, Preludes, Impromptus, and Waltzes are justly celebrated. While his playing was generally less reliable as he aged, this late reading of the Largo from Chopin’s Piano Sonata No.3 in B Minor Op.58 – recorded separately from the entire work in 1954 and included in a Chopin anthology LP – gives us a better idea of his magnificent tonal colours, soaring phrasing, and sublime pedal effects than many of his more famous recordings.

Maryla Jonas led a life full of suffering, which she herself claimed made her a better musician. The Polish pianist’s incredibly refined pianism enabled her to nuance and voice with such subtlety that an astonishing array of emotions can be communicated in her readings of Chopin’s deceptively difficult (to play well) Mazurkas. In this September 20, 1949 performance of Chopin’s Mazurka in C-Sharp Minor Op.63 No.3, we hear her beautifully defined articulation, attentively forged phrasing, a gorgeous tonal palette, and disarming directness fused with tremendous sensitivity.

Jascha Spivakovsky was a Russian-born pianist who had a brilliant career in Europe until he was forced to escape the Nazis in 1933, emigrating to Australia. Despite his great reputation and international tours, the pianist never had a recording contract. Private home test performances and broadcast recordings reveal fascinating Romantic pianism that is both individual and attentive to the score, as well as to its essence. This December 1966 home recording of Chopin’s Ballade No.1 in G Minor Op.23, despite the poorly tuned piano, features fluid phrasing, transparent textures, rubato that works with phrase structure and the architecture of the work, and an overall avoidance of exaggeration and sentimentality.

Jorge Bolet was a tremendous pianist who only got the international recognition his talent warranted after the age of 60 in the 1970s. This February 21, 1963 broadcast recording of Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor Op.66 captures his fusion of vitality and sensitivity to nuance, with a wonderful sense of rhythm, beautifully polished sonority, and refined dynamic shadings.