The Chopin Currency - March 28, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Vivid tribute show transforms theater into old Paris salon
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA

Another glowing review for the San Francisco production of "Pauline Viardot and Friends," with special praise for soprano Melody Moore...

"Pauline Viardot and Friends" traced the outline of her life, from her early training under her strict father, Spanish tenor and voice teacher Manuel García, to her friendships with Chopin and George Sand. As her fame grew, so did her circle; she often entertained friends such as Charles Dickens, Henry James and Ivan Turgenev.

Despite her marriage to a much older man, Turgenev, explained Horne, became her lifelong amour.

"He became part of the family," Horne said. "It's hard to say which part, exactly - there's probably a word for it in French."

[...]

Moore, who has sung capably in small roles with the San Francisco Opera, gave a performance suggesting she is ready for center stage. After the big vocal leaps of "Coquette," Viardot's arrangement of a Chopin mazurka, Moore finessed the composer's "The Oak and the Reed" and "Hermione," and returned with a powerhouse performance of "Gods of the Styx" from Gluck's "Alceste."See all stories on this topic

A night of solo Chopin with Louis Lortie
Ottawa Citizen - Ontario, Canada

Preview of Canadian pianist's April 1 performance of the complete Etudes:

"Better Chopin playing than this is not to be heard, not anywhere," wrote a Financial Times critic after star Canadian pianist Louis Lortie performed Chopin ...

Chopin's complete Études are made up of the Twelve Études, Op. 10; the Trois nouvelles Études and the Twelve Études, Op. 25. Lortie's recording of the Études was cited in a special piano issue of BBC Music Magazine as one of "50 Recordings by Superlative Pianists."

See all stories on this topic

Chopin Videos:

Road Songs (Richter plays Chopin Revolutionary Etude)
By CubanInLondon(CubanInLondon)

From the "CubaninLondon" blog, a breathtaking Sviatoslav Richter performance:

When in 1831, Chopin's étude opus 10, number 12, saw the light, Russian troops were about to crush the 'November Uprising' in Poland, The musician, unable to assist his fellow countrypeople, resorted to the only weapon he had, his piano. To me this piece is representative of a feeling that encompasses not just the love for one's homeland, but disdain for those who try to keep it down. Intoxicating.

CubanInLondon - http://cubaninlondon.blogspot.com/

Chopin in the Blogosphere:

On Chopin, Vanguard, and Bosomy Winged Avengers
By Adam Tiler

The importance of good music in gamecraft...

I appreciated the Chopin in Hellfire Peninsula, and wish Blizzard would do more like that, but the rest is B quality at best. Vanguard, for all its faults, had beautiful music (under Media). Todd Masten is a master of thematic music to ...

Mahogany Finish - http://www.mahoganyfinish.org

my heart aches
By alyson.(alyson.)

Piano memories from a Portland blogger...

I fell in love with Debussy, twisted my fingers learning Brahms, and wanted to learn every Chopin waltz written. every year, I competed in a local and state level for piano. each year I played in the solo competition, ...

unruly.things - http://unruly-things.blogspot.com/

The Chopin Currency - March 3, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Eternal Sonata

Five-star review for new video game inspired by Chopin:

"The environments in Eternal Sonata are also stunning. Everything from a wide open field to the sewers below a city looks like something out of a beautiful dream world, which is precisely what this is.

Eternal Sonata takes place in a dream; the dream of famous composer Frederic Francois Chopin. Chopin is on his death bed and is in a state of intense dreaming. In his dream world, those who are terminally ill have the ability to use magic. Because of this, anyone who uses magic is shunned in the community.

Chopin enters the dream world not sure of where he is, or even if the world he is in is really a dream at all. He meets Polka, a terminally ill 14-year old girl who realizes she does not have much time to live. She is determined to go on a quest and help the world she lives in with the time that she has remaining. Chopin elects to go with her to find out where exactly he is. Along the way, an unlikely cast of characters join together on an epic quest.

If you can't tell by now, Eternal Sonata contains a lot of musically themed places and characters. This is highly appropriate, however, because of the incredible audio quality of the game. Eternal Sonata is beautiful, but it is also a game in which the sound quality is on the same level as the graphics.

Everything from characters' voices to the music of the game is crisp, clear, and incredibly well done. Scenes of tranquility are not only enhanced, but brought to life by the outstanding piano work, performed by Stanislav Bunin.

Eternal Sonata has incredible graphics, amazing sound, and one of the most original stories of any RPG...."

GameIndustry.com - Washington,DC,USA
Eternal Sonata takes place in a dream; the dream of famous composer Frédéric François Chopin. Chopin is on his death bed and is in a state of intense ...
See all stories on this topic

Chopin in the Photosphere:

Tomb of Chopin

Click on the link to see the Chopin memorial in Paris. "Everytime I have been to visit his tomb there have always been fresh flowers on it. ..."

By nobody@flickr.com (*~Laura~*)
Scanned from film, I've uploaded these pics from Pere Lachaise in Paris for my contact *wanderlust* aka Phoebe who is going to this awesome cemetary in a few weeks when she visits Paris! The tomb of Polish composer, Frédéric Chopin. ...
Photos from *~Laura~* - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lausanne/