....a roundup of Chopiniana: current news, views, reviews, recordings and performances in the runup to the 200th birthday of the matchless Polish keyboard composer.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Chopin Currency - April 17, 2008

Chopin/Radiohead update:

The "Matchup" of a Chopin prelude with Radiohead's Exit Music for a Film is getting noticed all over the blogosphere (see the Chopin Currency for April 15), prompting this comment from ThisIsNotALabel Computer Music Blog :









This video is a terrific example of why current US copyright laws are industry-favoring pieces of trash that don't give creative people enough leeway to create. This artist could never make a dime off this piece in the US, without Radiohead's agreement. Personally, I think that's wrong. I think that artists should be encouraged both to create and to RE-create. This amalgam of Radiohead and Chopin is beautiful, and we should be encouraging musicians to find ways like this to reuse and reinvigorate the works of the past.




Other citations:

Radiohead/Chopin Matchup
By buck19
Effing Brilliant!!!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X-PR...chopin_matchup And one of his own written songs. YouTube - Jack Conte - Operation.
Tampa Forums - http://www.tampaforums.com/forums

VideoSong 4 - Radiohead/Chopin Matchup
By DICE
1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice). 2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds). Radiohead's Exit Music for a Film matched with a prelude by Chopin, Op. 28, no. 4 ...
YETANOTHERMUSICWEBLOG - http://www.yetanothermusicweblog.com/

Chopin/Radiohead Mashup!
By rekcehcsopa
Has everybody seen this? http://youtube.com/watch?v=0X-PRpqj7N4 :jonny2: approves.
Mortigi Tempo - Radiohead Message Board - http://www.mortigitempo.com/too_bored


Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:



All over again
The Phoenix - Boston,MA,USA

Playing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Kissin has dazzle if not depth, and puzzles with his choice of encores...


At the opening concert on April 8, however, the symphony plodded, and though Kissin played the late B-flat concerto, No. 2, with phenomenal dexterity and large-scale grandeur, he seemed to have no clue about the reflective and searching nature of the music. The piece sounded like Rachmaninov. The Andante is one of the glories of Brahms. It opens with a great cello solo, which Jules Eskin played with ravishing and glowing warmth. But in this most emotionally and intellectually but least technically challenging section of the concerto, Kissin merely hit all the notes. Still, he wowed the audience, and after being called back repeatedly, he played Chopin’s charming “Minute” Waltz (though with only the barest hint of charm). Did it matter that Chopin had no connection with the rest of the program? At least on the following night, I was told, one of his two encores was a Brahms waltz (along with a Chopin scherzo).


[...]

...the early D-minor concerto, No. 1, with which Brahms struggled so hard (should it be a piano piece, and if so, for how many pianos? should it be a symphony?), with its even greater bravura and fewer demands for “interpretation,” was more up Kissin’s alley.... His encores were more Chopin — both in C-sharp minor: the ambitious Scherzo (with its solemn chords and feathery descent of heavenly snowflakes played with so much emphasis on texture and color, it sounded more like Liszt) and the famous little Waltz (which had so little ¾-time “lift,” it sounded more like a nocturne).

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Emerging star keeps hitting the right notes
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Fort Worth,TX,USA

After the big-build up in Fort Worth (see the Chopin Currency for April 16th) Ingrid Fliter does not disappoint...

Her program began with the Impromptus Nos. 1 and 2 by Schubert. It was capped by Chopin -- his Nocturne in B major, Sonata No. 3 and, for her first encore piece, the Grand Valse Brilliante. Her style and approach seemed more natural on the Chopin and showcased her wonderful lyrical phrasing and a singing, golden tone. Her fine control of fingers and pedals created melodies chiseled in silver against an airy rainbow of lingering sound.

Fliter's playing sent thrills through the audience gathered under the Kimbell's vaulted ceiling. It heralded the emergence of a major piano star.

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Pianist André Laplante delivers grand recital
Barre Montpelier Times Argus - Barre,VT,USA

Canadian pianist plays South of the Border to great acclaim....

Laplante, one of Canada's great pianists, is first and foremost a romantic pianist in that he imbues a lot of personal emotion in his work. But unlike many romantic pianists, he is rhythmically disciplined and has great reverence for the composer's score as is the focus of more classical pianist.

Laplante's freely lyrical melody line, the hallmark of a romantic pianist, shone most in works of Chopin. The major work of the program was Chopin's Sonata in B-flat minor, Opus 35, a big, powerful work that runs the gamut of emotions, from unbridled passion in the first and second movements to the delicate tenderness of the third movement – dubbed "Funeral Match" – to the rapid and turgid finale. Throughout, though, Laplante projected the structure as well as the deep emotions of the work. Much the same could be said Chopin's Sonata in f minor, Opus 49....
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....is a roundup of all things Chopin leading up to the 200th anniversary of the matchless Polish composer for the piano in March 2010.