The Chopin Currency - May 20th, 2008

Chopin News, Reviews, and Previews:

A Country in the Moon, by Michael Moran
Independent - London,England,UK

Review declares Michael Moran's new book about Poland to be an "absorbing, exasperating and ultimately rewarding travelogue."

Moran emerges from these pages as a romantic, a bon viveur, a music lover and a film buff, equally versed in the polonaises of Chopin, the novels of Joseph Conrad and the movies of Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Kieslowski. He conducts a clandestine affair with unhappily married Zosia, and together they explore the historic cities of her country. His sojourn comes to a premature end when the project's rackety finances expire. The last chapters briskly fast-forward up to the death of Pope John Paul II. As for his romance with Zosia, reader, I wouldn't dream of giving the game away.

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Chopin master returns to Barboursville
Orange County Review - Orange,VA,USA

Somewhat confusing review of young Polish pianist Jacek Kortus' performance in Virginia Wine Country....

Kortus’ return engagement was the fourth in a series of benefit concerts for the Chopin Foundation. This year’s event was hosted by Barboursville Winery and sponsored again by Premier Virginia Properties. As a special treat, Washington National Opera Conductor Maestro Giovanni Reggioli introduced Kortus and the Chopin pieces he would perform in the first half of Thursday’s concert. [...]

Joking aside, the maestro described Chopin as “good music of the people” and said the composer’s works were “good for the first-time person or for the person who studies it for life.”

Kortus, a serious and intense young man of supreme focus, opened the program with Frederic Chopin’s Nocturne in C Minor Op. 48, No. 1. He followed with Waltz in A Flat Major Op. 34, No. 1 that conjured images of a gilded 19th century ballroom full of lords and ladies that finished with such an uplifting flourish everyone in the audience was smiling.

The third selection was Mazurkas in B Flat Major Op. 18, No. 1 and No. 4 in A Minor which began rather chillingly sad only to finish with an offer of hope. In his last selection before the intermission, he performed Chopin’s Sonata in B Flat Minor, Op. 35 where he balanced the emotion of the piece with his technical skill in moments both fiercely fast and smoothly slow. At times the piece sounded otherworldly with such vibrations it seemed the piano might simply explode from the music.

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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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