The Chopin Currency - May 10, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Felder completes composer trilogy with 'Beethoven' premiere
North County Times - Escondido,CA,USA

Really having more to do with Ludwig than Fryderyk, a preview of Hershey Felder's new one-man show in San Diego...

Like the other two plays, "Beethoven, As I Knew Him" is a roughly 100-minute, intermissionless play with music written by and starring Felder (a piano prodigy who grew in Canada's Yiddish theater circuit) telling the composer's story in words and music from the piano bench.

"Gershwin Alone" features the brash, Brooklyn-born Jazz Age composer recounting his life up until his tragic 1937 death from a brain aneurysm at age 38. "Monsieur Chopin" finds the Polish composer Frederic Chopin in his Parisian salon a few years before his 1849 tuberculosis death at age 39, explaining his struggle with "melancholy" (bipolar disorder), his love affair with George Sand and his life and music.

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From disparate halves, a thrilling whole
Buffalo News - NY, United States

Gabriela Montero's first half gets the better grade in Buffalo, though Chopin still suffers...

The two halves to Montero’s concert were vastly different. The first half was all classical — the Bach/Busoni, then Chopin’s Ballade No. 3, then the Sonata No. 1, by Alberto Ginastera.

You would have to have been dead not to have been thrilled and excited by that Bach. Busoni knew how to work a piece for showmanship, how to bring out its contrasts and climaxes, and Montero played right along. Besides drama, the piece had depth and emotion.[...]

The Chopin sounded a bit frantic, not as romantic as it could have been. Poor thing. It was sandwiched between that Bach and the stormy Ginastera, and Montero might have worked herself into a bit of a lather...

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Montreal pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin wows crowd at the Gilmore Festival
Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com - Kalamazoo,MI,USA

Meanwhile, in Kalamazoo, the parade of A-list pianists continues, with generous amounts of Chopin on their programs:

The Chopin Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58 presented a different set of challenges in its stark contrasts between virtuosic outbursts and tender, thinly scored romantic tunes. Hamelin displayed remarkable control at the lowest dynamic levels, caressing every note of Chopin's beautiful melodies.

The second movement Scherzo had incredible drive as a result of his very ambitious tempo and meticulous articulation. The precious nature of the scant two- and three-part writing of the third movement Largo was nurtured along with the utmost care. Then, Hamelin unleashed a hitherto unheard power in the "Finale: Presto" non tanto that proved a perfect foil to the delicate third movement.

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Chopin Downloads, Legal and otherwise...

Chopin - 24 Preludes op 28, Grigory Sokolov

By admin
Composed by Fryderyk Chopin Grigory Sokolov, piano Live Paris 17th June 1990. Grigory Sokolov (born April 18, 1950 in Leningrad) is a Russian pianist. Sokolov began studying the piano at the age of five, entering the Leningrad ...
Music-Download.cc - http://www.music-download.cc

Jorgeous : Tributo a Chopin
By Jorgeous

Starts off sounding more like Satie than Chopin...

Jorgeous - Tributo a Chopin. Jorgeous - Tributo a Chopin.
Jamendo - http://www.jamendo.com/

Chopin Photos:

Chopin.
By nobody@flickr.com (ianharrywebb)

Click on the link to see the row house in the Scottish capital...

ianharrywebb posted a photo:. Chopin. Chopin's home while in Edinburgh.
Uploads from ianharrywebb - http://www.flickr.com/photos/iansdigitalphotos/

The Chopin Currency - April 21, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

The master songwriter turns maestro
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia

Legendary (and remarkably durable) hitman Neil Sedaka is poised to "return to his classical roots" Down Under...

Sedaka was an acclaimed junior pianist studying at the Juilliard School before he became a teenage songwriter turning out tunes from the hit factory that was New York's Brill Building.

On the road in the 1990s he drew on that classical training to put his own lyrics to the work of composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Debussy and Chopin.

It is this work that will comprise the second half of his performances in Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

"It's a very ambitious concert tour," Sedaka says. "I am going to perform with each symphony in the respective cities. I do my big hits over the years and then the classical portion of my concert.

"I had a classical album where I put my lyrics to classical music. The fans who know me for those early hit songs, they're surprised that I can play the classical piano and surprised that I can sing in the Andrea Bocelli-Mario Lanza style which I never did before."

He wrote the songs while touring, scribbling them on napkins in restaurants and during flights, relying on memories of the music he learned as a young piano student. "It was not until I got to a piano months later that I could play them and hear them," he says.

"I had to collaborate with Frederik Chopin and Schumann and Tchaikovsky - this was not an easy feat; if you slipped and went over the line it would be hackneyed and corny.

"It's a unique album. It is not for the aficionados who can sit through a whole classical concert or a whole opera, but for those people who love the arias and the melodies. So I did it for people who are not diehard classical fans.

"We're also doing the world premiere of my first symphonic piece, which is a 12-minute piece called Joie De Vivre, in four movements."

When his initial career foundered - "After a while I overdid a good thing," he confesses, "there were too many tra-la-las, and too many do-be-dos" - he learned that the taste of having a hit record does not leave you.

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Grammy winner to close Tuesday Musical season
Hudson Hub-Times - Hudson,Ohio,USA
Ohlsson will give this year's Margaret Baxtresser Annual Piano concert with a program featuring works by Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Joio, and Chopin. ...
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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Olé! Cuban Pianist Rocks the Sottile
By Lindsay Koob

Cuban virtuoso Jorge Luis Prats plays an all-Spanish (and Brazilian) program at the College of Charleston but Chopinesque comparisions still abound....,

Called by some “The Spanish Chopin,” Granados crafted quite a bit of gorgeous piano music that recalls the Polish master’s sense of musical poetry as well as his technical sophistication. All of it was amazing – but the heart of the work was El Amor y la Muerte (Love and Death) – a particularly intense number that echoes the epic grandeur of Chopin’s famous Ballades. The final El Pelele was a tour-de-force of “caliente” spirit and passionate virtuosity – and Prats brought the house down with it.

Eargasms | Charleston City Paper - http://eargasm.ccpblogs.com

Frederic Chopin's Romances

From the online "interactive magazine" Suite101, a discussion of Konstancja Gladkowska, Maria Wodzinska, and George Sand...

While a student at the Warsaw Conservatory he became smitten with a young soprano, Konstancja Gladkowska (1810-1889). In a letter to his friend Titus Woyciechowski, dated October 3,1829, he says,"O, perhaps unfortunately, I already have my ideal, whom I have served faithfully, though silently, for half a year, of whom I dream, to thoughts of whom the adagio of my concerto [No.2] belongs, and who this morning inspired the little waltz [Op.70, No.3, in D flat major ] I am sending you...."

Suite101: Classical Music Articles - http://ClassicalMusic.suite101.com/

The Chopin Currency: March 22, 2008

Chopin & George Sand
Barre Montpelier Times Argus - Barre,VT,USA

A preview of a WordStage Vermont production of "Frédéric & George," — "an evening of letters, diaries, and memoirs penned by these two paradoxically matched lovers and some of their intimate circle."

"Mme. Sand, beware of Chopin! He is nothing less than a moral vampire!"

"You have no idea what Mme. Sand has managed to do with him in one summer! Consumption has seized that figure and turned it into a soul without a body. The poor creature does not see that this woman has the love of a vampire!"

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Young Chinese pianist shows his reverence for the masters
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com - Newark,NJ,USA

A preview of Yundi Li's scheduled appearances in Princeton and Newark, NJ, where he shares his knowledge of "rival" pianist Lang Lang:

Although there have been hints of rivalry between Li and Lang Lang, Li says they "bumped into each other at Beijing Airport, and it was the first time we met, about three years ago. We said, 'Let's go and hang around next time when we have time.' I think he's a talented pianist with his own style."

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Chopin to be performed at evening Dixie Forum ...
St. George Daily Spectrum - St. George,UT,US

A night of Chopin at Dixie State College in Utah, featuring DSC faculty member Dr. Nancy Allred and DSC alum Monica Hymas:

The duo will present “The Odyssey of Chopin’s Soul: The Four Ballades,” which will feature discussion on the history of these works. Hymas will perform Chopin’s "Ballade No. 1 in G Minor," and "Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major," while Dr. Allred will perform "Ballade No. 2 in F Major" and "Ballade No. 4 in F Minor."

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

ChopinConcerts in Castres

By LoGoRhythm(LoGoRhythm)

Blogger Lowri Blake muses on Chopin for cello in the south-west of France:

After a collection of short pieces and arrangements of music by Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, they played Chopin's Introduction and Polonaise Brillante Op.3. I was dreading hearing the usual souped- up fare (hybrid versions rewritten by various cellists who felt that the cello part was too unglamorous) but no, they gave a terrific account of the piece in its original form. Chopin's intention was to contrast the cello's beautiful melodic line with a more virtuosic piano part, not to compete with it.

brr brr brr...busy line - http://busyline.blogspot.com/

The Chopin Currency - March 20, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Opera's elite celebrate music of Viardot
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA

Another story on the Pauline Viardot stage show in San Francisco, with some fascinating insights from Marilyn Horne:

"She helped Wagner raise money for 'Tristan und Isolde.' She rewrote a lot of Chopin's music for voice - an entire book of mazurkas. Those were amazing things for a woman of that time."

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He fills halls and sells CDs, but marketing has triumphed over music
Globe and Mail - Canada

The Toronto critics continue to roast Yundi Li:

Chopin's Four Mazurkas, Op. 33 suffered the same insensitivities of style, with the addition of a failure to grasp the characteristic rhythm of the vigorous Polish dance form. Only the third of the four had any simplicity and command. All of these were accompanied by the subliminal but distinct sound of Arthur Rubenstein spinning in his grave....

He opened the slender first half of his program with Chopin's most shopworn Nocturne, the one in E flat, Op. 9, No. 2, and played it very badly indeed. ...
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Why Murray Perahia turned to Bach
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom

Nice article on peerless pianist Perahia's interest in JSB. Perahia notes he's not the only one:

Bach, as Perahia realises, had an impact on music not just in the 18th century, but throughout the Romantic era of the 19th and beyond. "Composers took Bach as their bedrock," he says, "whether it's Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann or Chopin.

"I don't think there was a day when Chopin wasn't playing Bach. When Schumann went into depression, he wrote fugues, and he always told his wife, Clara, to study Bach. It was an important part of their musical make-up....

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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Betraying Bacon and Boating
By Jeremy Denk

Pianist and blogger Jeremy Denk (currently on the road with violinist Joshua Bell), waxes eloquent on Chopin's one-and-only Barcarolle:

Chopin writes a passage of drift which allows one motion to become another, a flight between ratios, a mysterious differential equation.

This transition is amazing partly because of its disengagement, because of the sensation that the foundations of the narrative have been removed. This transition is not essentially “musical.” It does not conform to the niceties of musical discourse, it does not attempt to be the smooth unnoticeable gearshift. Chopin deliberately removes us from the world of capital-M Music, in which he had allowed us to bathe.

I chose to program the Chopin Barcarolle (last week in lovely San Diego!) on the strength of a moment I wanted to seize, on a juicy crispy piece of bacon I once smelled in its interior. Ah, I remember the moment well: a student came in ...
- http://jeremydenk.net/blog

Eternal Sonata
By Kamisamaa(Kamisamaa)

An entry from Live Journal regarding Chopin's relationship with George Sand...

It is impossible to tell the story of Chopin’s life without the mention of this woman. George Sand was an extremely famous author in Paris who had already published numerous books. Her real name was Aurore Dudevant. ...
Recurring Reverie - http://kamisamaa99.livejournal.com/

Misc. Chopiniana:

Chopin Chorlton
By manchesterbars

Next time you're in Manchester, UK, ("the rock'n'goal capital of the world!") check out the Chopin Bar

Chopin - Manchester Road, Manchester, M21 9PG map classical music played in this new bar Hotels in Chorlton More bars in Chorlton, Manchester Top 10 bars and clubs in Manchester.
Manchester Bar Reviews - http://manchesterbars.wordpress.com/

The Chopin Currency - The Birthday Edition! March 1, 2008

Chopin Performance of the Day: A Chopin Rarity from Chopin Project Artistic Director Arthur Greene:

“The Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9 No. 2 comes from around 1830, -after Chopin had left Warsaw forever. But the version I’m playing here has a bit of a twist. There are some scores of Chopin’s works that he marked up for his piano students, and they’ve been a fascinating find for musicologists. You can see where he marked things on the scores, adding fingerings and other instructions for his students. And in some of them Chopin added extra notes - and even little cadenzas! So if you know this beloved Nocturne, listen extra closely, and you’ll hear some things that aren’t usually there.”
Click for more on the story....

Click the Piano to hear Arthur Greene perform Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat Op. 9 No. 2 (original cadenzas) in concert at Britton Recital Hall at the University of Michigan.




Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

Chopin’s birthday anniversary concert

Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky performs tonight in Warsaw's National Philharmonic Hall...

Thenews.pl - Warsaw,Poland
The National Chopin Institute, the organizer of the concert, has also mounted an exhibition of the composer’s memorabilia at the city’s Chopin Society. ...
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Alexandre Thaurad shows imagination on piano pieces by Chopin and Mompou...

Praise from critic Scott Cantrell for new Harmonia Mundi CD filled with Chopin-inspired companion pieces by Spanish composer Federico Mompou. "A fine pianist, Mr. Tharaud serves up not hothouse Chopin but red-blooded stuff.But a sonorous tone and definite point of view don't make for heavy-handedness or affectation. Add warm, natural sonics and you've got a real winner."

Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
SURPRISE FILLER: Chopin's 24 Preludes, the big placeholder here, take about 40 minutes. How then to fill out a 75-minute CD? The young French pianist ...
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Pianist playing at Sheldon

Another preview of Tadeusz Majewski's recital: “From his studies at Chopin Lyceum in Krakow to the Chopin Society in the Twin Cities, Majewski has made Chopin an essential companion,” spokesmen said.

Republican Eagle - Red Wing,MN,USA
World-renowned pianist Tadeusz Majewski will perform an evening of Chopin favorites and Beethoven classics at 7 pm March 8 at the Sheldon Theatre. ...
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Goodbye, fancy dress costumes ... Elton says he's too old for ...

Elton John reminisces about his outlandish costumes over the years....
"They both roared with laughter, and Elton grinned ruefully: "To me, I thought I was Chopin. But everyone else in the world thinks I'm Marie Bloody Antoinette. That could be the story of my life!"

Daily Mail - UK
It was bloody Chopin!" LEFT: Fancy pants, boots and a blue biker jacket. RIGHT: Tartan overload for a stroll around town They both roared with laughter, ...
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Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Ashkenazy plays Chopin

Chopin Birthday blog posting featuring a quote by George Sand and a performance by Vladimir Ashkenazy:

By http://www.deanstalk.net/
Today would have been Frédéric Chopin's 198th birthday. "His music was spontaneous, miraculous. He found it without seeking, without previous intimation of it. It came upon his piano sudden, complete, sublime, or it sang in his head ...
Sapiens Tribune - liberal arts blog - http://www.sapienstribune.net/

Javier Bardem, Buckeye State & Frédéric Chopin
Topic: Javier Bardem. Today in History: Buckeye State, Cornhusker State, Yellowstone. Birthdays: Frédéric Chopin, Ralph Ellison, Yitzhak Rabin.
Answers.com: Today's Highlights - http://www.answers.com

Frederic Chopin

Another birthday blog posting: "Towards the end of Frederic Chopin's life, he was rumored to have a lavish and promiscuous distinction - which led my militant 100-pound piano teacher to give me the above-the-reading-glasses-glare, then with pursed lips declare "Never play Chopin at church."

He also has his own Asteroid - "3784 Chopin".

By rabidrunner(rabidrunner)
Frederic Chopin, composer and piano virtuoso extraordinaire lived from 1810 to 1849. He was born to Nicolas Chopin, a French immigrant and a Polish mother, Tekla Justyna Krzyżanowska. Frederic Chopin lived only 39 years. ...
rabidrunner - http://rabidrunner.blogspot.com/

Chopin's Birthday Fic: Cake

Some Chopinesque fiction to celebrate this day....

By Lilith(Eternal Sonata / Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream)
Pairing: Polka/Chopin Notes: This takes place somethime during "Preludes", which is ten years after the main story. Chopin has not aged in that time due to being dead. Frederic looked at the calendar and groaned. Just one more day… ...
Eternal Sonata - http://community.livejournal.com/torasuti_beru/

Chopin Videos:

Novi singers - F.Chopin - mazurek F op.64 n4

Charming Swingle Swingers - like video vocalise of a Chopin Mazurka!

By rss@dailymotion.com (aqua137)
Author: avatar aqua137 Tags: novi chopin Posted: 29 February 2008 Rating: 5.0 Votes: 3.
Dailymotion - aqua137's most... - http://www.dailymotion.com/aqua137

The Chopin Currency - Feb. 28, 2008

Chopin New, Reviews, and Previews:

Celebrated pianist Brendel to take final bows with Cleveland Orchestra

What will undoubtedly be the first of many "career-retrospective" items about Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel as he begins his farewell tour of the USA. In the article he discusses the situation for concert pianists at the start of his career: "One of the things that helped me sort it out was the fact that in my young years, there were still two types of great pianists: one who mainly played a large Central European repertoire and the other one who was a Chopin specialist. At that time, it was taken for granted that to play Chopin well, one needed specialization." While Brendel opted for the former route, he believes he might have played more Chopin if he had taken time to explore the composer's music....

The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com - Cleveland,OH,USA

Chopin in the Blogosphere:



Thursday Thirteen #26 The Saga of Frederick and Georg

More about the relationship between Chopin and Georg Sand from our intrepid LA blogger...interesting graphics to accompany the story....including the picture (left) of a few bars of Chopins's beloved Nocturne in E flat Major (Op. 9 No. 2) written down in an album of Chopin's former fiancee Marie Wodzinski.

By Lara Angelina(Lara Angelina)

When we last left our couple, they had just met and while it seems that Georg was "warm for Chopin's form", he did not initially return the feeling. However, I need to back up the track a bit, to explain that when Chopin met Sand, ...Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing - http://larachronicles.blogspot.com/

The Chopin Currency - Feb. 21, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, & Previews:

Byron Janis Celebrates 80th Birthday 3/10 in Concert with Hensley ...

Celebrated Chopin interpreter (and more recently, composer of Broadway songs) Byron Janis is set to present two shows - celebrating his 80th birthday (and Chopin's 198th!) in March at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza in New York....

Broadway World - New York,NY,USA
The birthday festivities continue with "An Evening of Song with Pianist as Composer with a Touch of Chopin," a concert on Monday, March 10 at 8pm where he ...
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Pianist follows own jazz road

Previewing an appearance in Detroit's Orchestra hall, notes about the classical roots of jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson...
DetNews.com - Detroit,MI,USA
... to a French father and an American mother, the classically trained pianist says he still loves to work his fingers in Bach and Chopin. ...
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Chopin Photos

Chopin's family church

Nice photo of medieval Polish village church where Chopin's parents were married. “28.06.1806. I, Ignacy Marzański, the curate of this church, having delivered three banns on Sundays and not having found any canonical obstacles, this legal marriage of Mr Mikolaj Chopin, tutor in Zelezowa Wola, a bachelor and Ms Justyna Krzyzanowska..."
Church of St. Roch and st. John the Baptist in the village of Brochów, close to the village of...
TrekEarth - Europe Travel Photo Gallery - http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/

Chopin in the Blogosphere:

Thursday Thirteen #25

13 things to know about Chopin, part of an entertaining series from a Southern California blogger. "#13 -- It was not 'love at first sight' for Frederick and Georg [Sand]. "Something about her repels me," he wrote his family. Sand, however, in a letter to a friend in June, 1837, debated whether she should end a current affair to begin one with Chopin -- repelled be damned! -- even though she knew he was reportedly engaged to a woman named Maria Wodzińska."

By Lara Angelina(Lara Angelina)
We were big faves of Frederick Chopin as I was growing up and I've carried that love into my adult life. My mother and I would watch "A Song To Remember" (Cornel Wilde played a robust Frederick and Merle Oberon played a beautiful Georg ...
Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing - http://larachronicles.blogspot.com/

Tudor and Limon Celebrated

From the excellent blog danceviewtimes, a review of an American Ballet Theatre 100th birthday retrospective on the works of Anthony Tudor and Jose Limon:

This "Suite from 'Mazurkas,'" staged by veteran Limón dancer Sarah Stackhouse, includes eight of the work's twelve sections. In a post-performance discussion, she explained that the work was inspired by the company's visit to Poland as part of a 1957 European tour, during which they paid a visit to Chopin's home. She described the individual sections as "little gifts" from the choreogrpaher to each dancer who had been on that tour. Certainly Limón can be seen as being ahead of the curve in creating a Chopin piano ballet, something that became a more familiar type of dance about a decade later.

By Susan Reiter
Limón's 1958 "Mazurkas," which served as the evening's appetizer, is an uncomplicated and sweetly open-hearted piano ballet to Chopin, and thus quite different from what one generally associated with the choreographer. ...
danceviewtimes - http://www.danceviewtimes.com/