ALFONS SZCZERBIŃSKI was born at a time of upheaval in Europe during the second half of the 19th century. A prominent Polish talent in the Romantic mould, Szczerbiński was profoundly influenced by the harmonic models of Bach, Haydn and Mozart. His surviving music is mostly written for the piano but many of his compositions were either lost during the First World War or destroyed by the composer himself. Heard here in their world première recordings, the Chansons sans paroles are Romantic miniatures that possess rich melodic elegance and marvellous phrasal beauty, sometimes redolent of Mendelssohn, Chopin or Liszt.