The Chopin Currency - June 21st, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Joe Jackson @ Bridgewater Hall
Manchester Evening News - Manchester,England,UK

Raves for a live show - and new CD - by the "musically literate former Angry Young Man...: "Rain captures all that singular brew of bile and beauty which drove Jackson’s best work." - and apparently helps him find his inner Fryderyk...

The centrepiece was the new song Solo (So Low), introduced by its creator as “a bit of a wrist-slasher, but it does have its funny side..or maybe that’s just me”. Yes it is just you, Joe, for what the hushed crowd heard was one of the most striking hymns to loneliness ever sung, Jackson’s grand piano underpinning his bleak poetry with something akin to a Chopin piano study.

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Sixteen-year-old Fremont grad goes on to Julliard
Fremont Bulletin - California, United States

Local girl Ashley Hsu is packing her bags for the big city, wich help from the Chopin Foundation...

A talented pianist, Hsu has won multiple awards and scholarships, including a 2006-2007 scholarship from the Chopin Foundation of the United States for her performances of the works of Chopin. She is also the silver medalist in the 2008 Schimmel International Piano Competition where she competed against young artists from China, South Korea, Israel, Canada and other countries.

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Could it be the start of a trend? Playing the Eternal Sonata video game is sparking interest in Chopin's compositions?

oddly enough playing eternal sonata has got me into Chopin (3)
By ♪ ☆ Anonymous Popstar ☆ ♪
can anyone recommend some more songs from that stand out.

Music @4-ch - http://4-ch.net/music/index.html

What's the story, morning glory? What's the word, humming bird?
By Mew(Mew)
As much fun as the battle system was and how freakin' pretty Chopin is was, the game was...a little lacking. I didn't feel too attached to the characters, the story seemed a bit rushed, and the plot was a bit boring. ...
Mew - http://amewsed.livejournal.com/

The Chopin Currency - April 6, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Chopin: Piano Sonata No 3; Mazurkas Op 59; Barcarolle Op 60 ...
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom

UK paper gives Gilmore Award winner Ingrid Fliter a vigorous thumbs-up on her new All-Chopin CD:

Ingrid Fliter clearly loves Chopin's music. The warmth of her playing and the lyrical impulse of her interpretations are combined with discretion in matters of dynamics, pianistic decoration and tonal colour to make these pieces flow from her fingers with the spontaneity of someone deeply immersed in the music's idiom.

Fliter's name might not yet be universally familiar here, but it will be. Born in Argentina, she came to prominence two years ago when she received the highly prized Gilmore Award in the United States, previously bestowed on such international artists as Piotr Anderszewski and Leif Ove Andsnes. Now that she is also a BBC New Generation Artist, opportunities to hear her will become more frequent.

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Mindru Katz plays CHOPIN, Vol. I
Audiophile Audition - USA

Review of a revissue by the Israeli pianist that Audiophile Audition calls "A highly personal approach to the composer - less of Horowitz than of [Myeczyeslaw] Horszowski or [Benno] Moiseiwitsch, a combination of implosive technique and fervent devotion." As well as some fevered dreams....

Katz verbally recounts his experience with dreams, especially in relationship to the music of Chopin, “the genius of Chopin and not just the notes of Chopin.” The etude in double-thirds proved troubling to Katz: a dream involving Artur Rubinstein transpired, in which Rubinstein placed Katz’s hand on the keyboard to finger the etude. Somehow, in having practiced and performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto, Katz found the proper fingering for rendering the technique of the Chopin etude. In another dream, one involving a near-death experience, Katz discovered the proper touch and realization for the Funeral March Sonata.....Well-spoken, articulate, and poetically apt, Katz as raconteur and insightful artist makes a formidable combination well worth our undivided attentions.
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Chopin Foundation returns to Barboursville
Orange County Review - Orange,VA,USA

Young Chopin Competition winner to appear at an Orange County vinyard...

The Chopin Foundation of the United States and Premier Virginia Properties are proud to present Jacek Kortus of Poland, the youngest finalist of the 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition, on his world piano tour.

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