In 1925, Polish pianist Jerzy Żurawlew mooted the idea of a competition to celebrate and reward the greatest interpreters of Chopin’s piano music. Two years later, the first competition was held in Warsaw, won by the celebrated Soviet pianist Lev Oborin. While the Second World War prevented it from running, the competition returned in 1949, and since 1955 has been held every five years (save 2020’s edition, which was moved to 2021 due to the Covid pandemic). Everything was happily back on track for 2025. Over the decades, the Chopin Competition has boasted many a piano legend amongst its medallists. Martha Argerich, Krystian Zimerman, Maurizio Pollini and Yundi Li have all been first-prize winners, while runners-up include Gabriela Montero, Ingrid Fliter and Daniil Trifonov. On this playlist, you can hear recordings made by many of these prize-winners since their respective victories, alongside historic live performances from the Chopin Competition itself. The competition is now always held in October around the anniversary of Chopin’s death, and is regarded as one of the most prestigious of all musical contests. The standard is notoriously high—entrants are required to put together six all-Chopin programmes (one of very few competitions focused on a sole composer) and are expected to perform them from memory in front of capacity crowds in the hallowed Concert Hall of the National Philharmonic. The rewards are great, with prizes in the tens of thousands of Euros—for the winner, a career both on the stage and in the studio is all but guaranteed.