The Chopin Currency: June 4th, 2008

Chopin News, Views, Reveiws and Previews:

Musical home of Chopin, Mendelssohn and Lou Reed? It's Glasgow, of Course!
Times Online - UK

"Glasgow civic officials are in Paris on a mission to convince UNESCO that the city deserves world City of Music status..."

Making his city's case, Mr Winter himself pointed out that Frédéric Chopin, the great composer, is said to have taken his first train ride in Glasgow, while his contemporary, Felix Mendelssohn, had been inspired by the countryside nearby - or to be more precise, Fingal's Cave on the Island of Staffa, more than 100 miles to the northwest.

The bid document itself employed an unashamedly broad and colourful brush to the city's musical heritage. Vienna had Mozart and Beethoven; New Orleans had jazz; but Glasgow cites artists ancient and modern including Simple Minds, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Clare Grogan and (to the confusion of any Austrians at the Unesco reception) Franz Ferdinand. Some of those name-checked were only visitors to the city, including the Move (from Birmingham), Oasis (Manchester) and Lou Reed (New York)

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Thus Far, PS3 Eternal Sonata Exclusive to Japan
Game Reviews - Phoenix,AZ,USA

Want to play the acclaimed Chopin-flavored video game on something besides an xBox? Rotsa ruck...

PS3 owners/lovers of eccentric RPGs based on the delusions of a dying composer are out of luck, unless you live in the Land of the Rising Sun that is. A Namco Bandai US spokesperson has stated that the PS3 version of Eternal Sonata, the RPG based on the fictional world dreamed up by a fever-wracked Chopin on his deathbed, "is only announced for... Japan right now."

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Chopin-related podcasts:

Chopin to Dr. Dre: The Sounds of the Carillon
By webhelp@kuow.org (KUOW 94.9 Public Radio)

Seattle public radio profile of "Carillonist" Charlotte Dyke, and her choice of music for the University of Washington's set of bells...

If you walk the UW campus on a weekday morning, you'll hear a tradition that is nearly 100 years old. There are tuned bells called the carillon. We meet a student who plays everything from Mozart to hip hop. ...

Sound Focus Podcast - /programs/sound_focus.asp