Today Raoul Koczalski is still considered one of the most outstanding Chopin performers of all time. The pianist and composer, offspring of a Polish noble family, was a child prodigy who in 1897, aged just 12 , gave his 1000th concert. He was one of the first big stars to record for Deutsche Grammophon before the Second World War - afterwards, as he was Polish, his recordings were banned and he was forced to stay in Berlin without permission to perform. After the war, he was soon rehabilitated in both Germany and Poland, but died in 1948.