Audience, competitors and the Jury have all had a short break before the finals commence tonight. I wonder if Martha Argerich flew to London to attend Stephen Kovacevich’s 70th birthday concert at the Wigmore Hall on Sunday night, or did she stay in Warsaw for the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and Philippe Herreweghe’s performance of Mozart’s Requiem at the Church of the Holy Cross?

Before the Competition resumes, it’s worth mentioning that there are many other Chopin-related things to do and see in Warsaw – for example visiting the aforementioned Church of the Holy Cross, where Chopin’s heart is entombed inside a pillar, or his birthplace at Żelazowa Wola, about an hour’s drive west of Warsaw, as well as the Chopin Museum, opened in April this year at the beautiful Ostrogski Palace in the city centre. The exhibition is fascinating in that it’s interactive – you receive a smart-card that guides you through Chopin’s life and times – not only visually, but also in words and music, and there’s even an olfactory moment when you are surrounded by the scent of violets, Chopin’s favourite. You can sit in the basement listening room and leaf through virtual scores while listening to his works on headphones.

And while we’re on non-Competition-related matters, I recently discovered that a mazurka is not only an elegant, haunting and elusive genre of piano music based on Polish folk-dances, but also a type of sweet pastry, traditionally served at Easter in Poland. My colleague at Warsaw’s Mickiewicz Institute, Małgorzata Wende, kindly showed me how to make one. While I believe that posting the recipe would be outside the scope of a Gramophone blog, I will say my mazurka incorporated a wonderful combination of chocolate and rose petals, and that it went down very well indeed with the editorial team of the Chopin Express.